Faran Nouri is vice president and global head of Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials. She leads the firm’s investment strategy and portfolio, focusing on technologies and companies that can accelerate innovation across the semiconductor industry and broader deep technology ecosystem. 

Before joining Applied Ventures, Faran served as senior partner at Natcast, where she helped establish the Semiconductor Innovation Fund for the CHIPS Program. Previously, she was a general partner at America’s Frontier Fund, leading the firm’s semiconductor investment thesis and strategy. She also served as vice president and founding managing director of Lam Capital, the corporate venture arm of Lam Research. Earlier in her career, she spent 11 years at Applied Materials in engineering and technology leadership roles, building deep expertise in semiconductor manufacturing and innovation.

An active contributor to the technology and venture communities, Faran has been an invited speaker and panelist, served on industry and technical committees, authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, and holds 26 patents. She was named to the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist 100 in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and was recognized among the Top 50 Corporate Venture Capital Leaders worldwide in 2022. Faran holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and an M.S. in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.