Riding the AI Wave: How Credo Technologies Created Two New Billionaires
The AI boom continues to expand, creating wealth for companies positioned along its infrastructure supply chain. Cayman Islands-based Credo Technologies exemplifies this trend, with its shares skyrocketing nearly 250% over the past year. This remarkable growth has minted two new billionaires: Chi Fung “Lawrence” Cheng, the company’s cofounder and chief technology officer, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, and early investor and director Pantas Sutardja, valued at approximately $1.8 billion. Both men trace their professional origins to semiconductor giant Marvell Technologies, where they developed the expertise that would later fuel Credo’s success in the competitive data center connectivity market.
The journey of these two technology entrepreneurs illustrates the interconnected nature of Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem. Cheng joined Marvell as an engineering director in 1997 after earning his master’s in electrical engineering from Purdue University. He eventually left to cofound Credo in 2008 alongside other Marvell alumni, raising $8 million in their Series A funding round by 2015. Sutardja, who grew up in Singapore before moving to the United States to study at UC Berkeley, helped establish Marvell in 1995 with his brother Sehat and sister-in-law Weili Dai. After leaving his CTO position at Marvell in 2014, Sutardja invested $3 million in Credo’s Series A round and joined its board, connecting his past and future in the semiconductor industry. This transition came shortly before his brother and sister-in-law were pushed out of Marvell amid an accounting investigation, though no charges were ever filed against them.
While Sutardja has maintained interests in other ventures, including serving as CEO of consumer electronics company LatticeWork (valued at less than $60 million in 2018), Credo has become the cornerstone of his wealth. The company went public on the Nasdaq in early 2022 and has since experienced explosive growth, quadrupling its revenue to $437 million for the fiscal year ended May 2025. Sutardja’s 3% stake in Credo has increased more than seventeenfold over the past four years, now worth approximately $1 billion. Combined with an estimated $750 million from selling his Marvell stock after departing the company, Sutardja’s net worth has firmly established him among technology’s billionaire class. Similarly, Cheng’s 4% stake in Credo is valued at $1.2 billion, supplemented by roughly $170 million from stock sales since the IPO. Another Credo cofounder, Chief Operating Officer Yat Tung “Job” Lam, appears poised to join the billionaire ranks soon, with a 2% stake worth $600 million plus approximately $150 million from previous share sales.
Credo’s remarkable success stems from its strategic positioning in the AI infrastructure supply chain. As artificial intelligence applications demand increasingly powerful computational resources, massive data centers have become essential, creating demand for the specialized cables needed to connect these complex systems. Credo has established itself as a leader in this space by pioneering active electrical cables (AECs), which offer significant advantages over standard copper direct access cables. Their patented purple AECs are thinner and more flexible, making them easier to install in high-density server environments while improving airflow and reducing cooling requirements—critical factors in the energy-intensive world of AI computing.
Although Credo doesn’t publicly disclose its customer list, industry analysts believe the company supplies its technology to major AI players including Elon Musk’s x.AI, Microsoft, and Amazon. A photo shared by Musk appears to show Credo’s distinctive purple cables at the Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. The company’s first-mover advantage in the AEC market continues to pay dividends despite growing competition. As Credo’s chairman and CEO Bill Brennan explained in a September CNBC interview, “It’s great to see connectivity in the spotlight. From our perspective, it’s the key enabler to the magic that happens with AI.” This positioning has allowed Credo to ride the wave of investment flowing into AI infrastructure.
Credo exemplifies a broader trend in the current technology investment landscape, where companies providing essential “pick-and-shovel” infrastructure for AI development are experiencing remarkable growth. Just as the California Gold Rush often made merchants of basic supplies wealthier than the prospectors themselves, today’s AI boom is creating billionaires out of those who supply the fundamental building blocks—from energy sources like nuclear and solar power to computing hardware and networking technology. Credo’s story demonstrates how specialized expertise, strategic positioning, and perfect timing can align to create extraordinary wealth in technology’s newest frontier. As AI continues to transform industries across the global economy, companies that enable this transformation through critical infrastructure components may continue to see their valuations soar, potentially minting more billionaires in the process.
