Lucio Lanza was born in a small village near Milan, Italy on July 31, 1944. He received a classical education, which included Latin, Greek, French, history, and philosophy. He found math very easy and decided to pursue engineering at a technical university in Milan.
His philosophy teacher wept.
Lucio began his career in 1968 at Olivetti Corporation in Italy managing processor architecture and design. From 1977 to 1983, he worked for Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., where he was responsible for strategy and innovation as chairman of the Microprocessor Strategic Business Segment (SBS). During that time, Lucio convinced the late Phil Kaufman and Intel management to co-design the first controller device for Ethernet with Digital Equipment Corporation (now HP) and Xerox. In 1983, Lucio joined Daisy Systems Corp. as vice president of marketing and general manager of its EDA division and from 1986 to 1989 was chief executive officer of EDA Systems, Inc., (now HP).
In 1989, Lucio spent several years as both a venture capitalist with US Venture Partners and as a company strategist and consultant at Cadence Design Systems. He eventually decided to pursue the venture business, first with US Venture Partners and then his own venture firm, Lanza techVentures, which he established in 2001.
In 2014, Lucio was the recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award, which was presented by the Electronic System Design Alliance and the IEEE Council on EDA (CEDA). The only venture capitalist to receive the prestigious award, Lucio was honored for providing innovative EDA and IP companies with exceptional vision, mentoring, and financial support.
View Video Tribute to Lucio Lanza and Video of the 2014 Phil Kaufman Award Presentation and Dinner
In 2013, Lucio participated in a 2-part interview the Computer History Museum’s Oral History Collection.
Every computer and chip design done today directly benefits from the critical role that Lucio has played in bringing key technologies to market. He has invested in more than 50 companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. These days Lucio’s continues to advance technology by investing in broad, forward-looking areas such as health and healthcare, pharma, computers, community-based, open-source silicon platforms, design tools and the intersection of AI and medical.
