Previous IEEE recipients include the ‘queen of carbon science’ who won for her research into graphite and carbon-based materials.
Henry Samueli, the founder of semiconductor manufacturing company Broadcom, has been announced as the 2025 IEEE Medal of Honour Laureate for his work in advancing communications technologies.
Samueli is being recognised by the global IT and engineering professional association for developing and commercialising analogue and mixed signal communications systems circuits, what led to the growth of broadband communication, wired and wireless networking technologies.
Beginning in 1917, the IEEE Awards is a worldwide peer-recognition programme and event that champions prominent leaders and visionaries in science, technology and engineering. The 2025 IEEE Medal of Honour, as well as additional awards, will be presented at a ceremony on 24 April 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
Samueli is also being recognised for his philanthropy and his support for science, technology, engineering and maths education. He is a three-time UCLA alumnus and is also the name-sake of the university’s engineering school.
As a UCLA electrical engineering professor, he conceived digital signal processing architectures for broadband communications chips, and after founding Broadcom, he built the world’s first digital cable set-top-box modem chipset. This laid the foundation for at-home UltraHD, HDTV and high-quality video streaming.
He will be the first recipient of the honour’s increased prize money, which previously amounted to $50,000 but now stands at $2m. Previous award winners include the ‘queen of carbon science’ Mildred S Dresselhaus in 2015, who won for her contributions to research into graphite and carbon-based materials.
“IEEE Medal of Honour Laureate Henry Samueli’s vision and communications technology innovations spurred the development of products used by nearly every person around the world,” said IEEE president and CEO Kathleen Kramer. “From the billions of consumer smartphones, set-top boxes and tablets to laptops and IoT devices, Samueli created new and novel ways to power connections and unite humanity.”
The IEEE’s K J Ray Liu also commented on the news: “Through broadband, Henry Samueli helped revolutionise how the world is connected, fostered cultural and economic paradigm shifts of countless industries and positively changed how we do everything today.
“In addition, his prolific philanthropy has deeply impacted many lives for the better, from generous support of STEM education to a pledge to give away the majority of his money during his lifetime. These contributions are exemplary for technologists, modelling the impact they can have not just on the world they live in, but for those who follow them.”
In 2024, it was announced that Broadcom would be selling its end-user computing division to global investment firm KKR in a multibillion-dollar deal.
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