SUNNYVALE, CA, May 9, 2025 – Numem has announced the appointment of two former Intel executives to its leadership team: Rob Crooke was elected as an independent board member, and Ashu Bakhle has joined as a senior technical advisor. Their addition signals Numem’s transition from a technology-driven innovator to a product-focused company addressing critical AI-related memory bottlenecks.
Crooke and Bakhle bring subject matter expertise in semiconductors and engineering, which should be valuable as they will work with the CEO Max Simmons. Their focus will be on helping expand the use of Numem’s MRAM technology, especially in addressing issues like power consumption, performance, and durability – whether it’s for edge AI devices or large-scale data centers.
“This is a pivotal moment for Numem,” said Simmons. “With our breakthrough technologies successfully developed and validated to address customers’ memory architecture challenges, we are now accelerating our move toward commercialization. With a new go-to-market team already in place, these additions to our board and advisory team strengthen our ability to deliver our MRAM-based solutions to a broader AI market and address critical memory challenges across industries.”
Crooke has spent over three decades in the semiconductor space, having served as senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. He played a key role in getting both 3D NAND and Optane off the ground and into the market.
Bakhle has spent over 30 years at Intel, building a rich background in engineering leadership. Most recently, he served as vice president of engineering, where he focused on high-performance edge and networking products. His experience covers multiple markets, including PCs, consumer electronics, and edge computing. He has used this experience to guide product development and support business growth.
Source: Numem
About Numem
Numem is a semiconductor company founded in 2017 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, focused on delivering advanced memory solutions for next-generation computing. The company specializes in patented NuRAM (MRAM) and SmartMem technologies, which provide energy-efficient, high-performance alternatives to traditional SRAM and embedded flash memory. Numem’s IP cores and chiplets are designed for use in AI, IoT, autonomous systems, edge computing, and data center applications. By targeting reductions in power consumption and enabling faster time-to-market for SoC developers, Numem aims to address critical memory bottlenecks in modern architectures. Its solutions are built on a scalable AI memory engine that redefines memory hierarchies to meet the demands of AI and high-performance computing workloads. Numem has secured $10.3 million in Series A funding and operates additional offices in Mesa, Arizona, and Gandhinagar, India. The company employs around 30 people and continues to expand its role in enabling smarter, faster memory subsystems.