Cephia names semiconductor veteran Mike McAuliffe as CEO

Cephia, a San Francisco-based AI imaging sensor startup founded in 2024 as a Princeton University spinout, has appointed Mike McAuliffe as President and Chief Executive Officer, according to a company statement.

McAuliffe previously served as CEO of Luminar Semiconductor Inc., where he led the company through its acquisition by Quantum Computing Inc. He also served as CEO of Seeing Machines (LSE: SEE), a computer vision company focused on automotive driver monitoring systems. Earlier roles include leading Powervation Ltd. to an acquisition by Rohm Semiconductor, and executive positions at Pulse Electronics, NXP, and Texas Instruments.

"Cephia's platform technology uniquely enables rich multimodal sensor perception in ultra-compact form factors addressing the critical needs of physical AI machine vision," McAuliffe said. "I am thrilled to join the exceptional founder team as we accelerate our product roadmap and customer deployment traction."

Cephia's technology combines silicon metasurface optics with computational image processing, producing sensors that capture RGB, polarization, 3D depth, and hyperspectral data. The company says its sensors eliminate traditional optical lens stacks, resulting in smaller form factors.

The company is backed by investors including Incharge Capital, MetaVC Partners, NRM Partners, Radiant Opto-Electronics, and SOSV. Cephia says it is expanding pilot programs targeting automotive, robotics, health, satellite imaging, defense, and drone applications.

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