Hong Hou on technology innovation
From Semtech's LoRa® vision - Hong Hou, Wienke Giezeman - The Things Conference · · The Things Industries
“I met with the EcoStar Telemark team in Switzerland who demonstrated that an end device can communicate with a satellite 36,000 kilometers away without line of sight, showing the high sensitivity and tracking capabilities of LoRa technology. This is fascinating and shows the boundless opportunities for new applications.”
On , Hong Hou, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at SEMTECH CORP, spoke about technology innovation during Semtech's LoRa® vision - Hong Hou, Wienke Giezeman - The Things Conference on The Things Industries.
About Hong Hou
Hong Hou, who became President and CEO of Semtech approximately 100 days ago after serving as a board member for a year, discussed the company's strategy for its LoRa technology at The Things Conference in October 2024. Hou described himself as a technologist by training with experience in national labs in China, Japan, and the US, and said he previously led the Ethernet and Cloud networking business group at Intel for five years. He stated that LoRa is "one of the bright spots" in Semtech's portfolio and that the company is committed to expanding the product portfolio and supporting the ecosystem. Hou outlined a five-year plan to identify key applications and work with ecosystem partners to provide more enablement from hardware and software to accelerate industry adoption. He noted that LoRa technology has demonstrated stability, with devices from 2015 still working with base stations purchased years ago, which he said gives confidence in the long-term strategy. Hou also mentioned that Semtech has a broader portfolio to solve IoT challenges including cellular, LoRa, and LoRaWAN, and that the company does not push any particular technology but develops enabling blocks to make integration easier. He said this was his first time at The Things Conference but would not be his last, and he looked forward to working with the community.