Tarunyaa Sivakumar

Stream of consciousness — that's what this is. I think too much, so I started writing some of it down.

  • GPU Chip Design Engineer at NVIDIA
  • UPenn EE '25
  • Singapore → Philadelphia → Bay Area
Taru Sivakumar
Find where smart people disagree
Decentralized compute infrastructure for AI training
Designed and taped out a hardware learning chip at Penn
Electrokinetic propulsion for autonomous micro-robots

Just a few random thoughts, that could either brighten up your day or trigger an existential crisis :)

Find where smart people disagree
Decentralized compute infrastructure for AI training
Designed and taped out a hardware learning chip at Penn
Electrokinetic propulsion for autonomous micro-robots
01
Build what matters
Technology is only meaningful when it serves real problems. Work on things that push the boundary.
02
Stay curious, stay humble
The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know. Approach every problem with beginner's eyes.
03
Do the hard thing
Growth lives on the other side of discomfort. Whether it's a tapeout, a startup pivot, or an honest conversation — lean in.
04
Think in systems
Everything is connected. A great chip designer thinks about the software. Zoom out before you zoom in.
05
Write it down
Writing is thinking made visible. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
06
People over everything
The best work happens with people you respect and trust. Nobody builds anything great alone.