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Penguin Solutions

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Penguin Solutions
TypePublic
IndustrySemiconductors
Founded1988;
38 years ago (1988)
HeadquartersFremont, California, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Kash Shaikh (CEO)
  • Nate Olmstead (CFO)
RevenueIncrease US$1.50 billion (2026)
Increase US$122.8 million (2026)
Increase US$75.91 million (2026)
Number of employees
2,900 (2026)[1]
Websitepenguinsolutions.com

Penguin Solutions is an American technology company headquartered in Fremont, California. The company was first founded in 1988 as SMART Modular Technologies. The company rebranded to SMART Global Holdings (SGH) and held an initial public offering in 2017, after spending years as a subsidiary of other companies or as its own private company. In October 2024, the company rebranded as Penguin Solutions.

The company specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, high-performance computing (HPC), and memory solutions. Penguin Solutions is included on the S&P 600. The company operates with manufacturing sites, labs, and offices across the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Established as a specialty memory company in 1988, the company has expanded to include accelerated computing solutions, AI factory platform solutions, integrated memory products, fault-tolerant edge computing platforms, cluster management software, and managed services. Penguin Solutions combines its technologies with solutions from industry partners to provide full-stack AI infrastructure platforms for enterprises, sovereign AI initiatives, and cloud service providers. These solutions support AI training, inference, and agentic AI workloads.

History

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Foundation and early years (1988−2016)

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In 1988, SMART Modular Technologies was founded with an initial focus on specialized Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) modules for industrial and enterprise OEMs.[citation needed] In 1995, SMART Modular Technologies acquired Apex Data. Later that year, the company went public for the first time.[citation needed] In 1999, SMART Modular Technologies was acquired by Solectron Corp for roughly $2 billion.[2] In 2004, the company was acquired from Solectron by TPG Capital (now TPG Inc.), Francisco Partners Management, and Shah Capital Partners for $100 million.[3] In 2011, the company was acquired and taken private by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners for approximately $645 million.[4][5][6]

SGH years and expansion (2017−2023)

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In conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ in May 2017, SMART Modular Technologies rebranded to SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (SGH) in May 2017.[7] Following the change, SGH functioned as the parent company, with SMART Modular Technologies acting as its operating subsidiary. In 2018, SGH acquired Penguin Computing for $85 million,[8][9] marking the company's entry into the HPC and AI markets. The following year, SGH acquired Artesyn Computing and Inforce Computing, for $80 million and $12 million respectively.[10]

In 2020, Penguin Computing collaborated with AMD to deliver supercomputing clusters to New York University, MIT, and Rice University for COVID-19 research.[11]

In March 2021, SGH completed the acquisition of Wolfspeed's (then known as Cree, Inc.)'s LED products business unit.[12] The acquisition was for nearly $300 million, diversifying SGH's portfolio into specialty lighting.[13]

In January 2022, Penguin worked with Meta Platforms to deploy the latter's supercomputer, dubbed the "AI Research SuperCluster" (RSC). Penguin had consistently collaborated with Meta, providing architecture and managed services for the company; the RSC ran on Penguin's Altus servers.[14] In February, Penguin Computing was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame for its role in commercializing the Beowulf HPC clustering architecture, after its acquisition of Scyld Computing.[15][16]

The "Penguin Solutions" branding was created in April 2022, combining the Penguin Computing and Penguin Edge brands into one umbrella within Intelligent Platform Solutions, itself an SGH business line.[17] In June, SGH acquired Stratus Technologies for $225 million.[18][19][20] Founded in 1980, Startus was known for providing high availability and fault-tolerant computing solutions to a broad clientele.[18]

In 2023, Penguin was certified as an NVIDIA "DGX-Ready Managed Services Partner".[21]

In 2024, SK Telecom invested $200 million in SGH, to establish more concrete cooperation across the AI infrastructure business, including AI data center, edge AI, and future memory solutions.[22][23][24][25] Also in 2024, the company designed, built, and deployed the AI infrastructure and high-performance computing environment for Georgia Tech's AI makerspace, in collaboration with NVIDIA.[26][27]

Rebranding as Penguin Solutions (2024−present)

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On October 15, 2024, SGH announced it would be rebranding to Penguin Solutions,[28][29] with the process formally completed on April 23, 2025.[18] With the rebrand completed, the company's stock ticker changed from SGH to PENG.[30] SMART Modular Technologies and Stratus Technologies now operate as product brands under the Penguin Solutions name. Cree LED is a brand owned by Penguin Solutions that offers application-specific LED chips and components.

In August 2025, Penguin Solutions provided its automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) solutions to SK Telecom for the launch of its sovereign AI infrastructure in South Korea.[31][32]

By 2026, the company was known for "designing, building, deploying, and managing" artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.[33] In March 2026, Penguin Solutions announced its partnership with Deepgram and Dell Technologies on the development of infrastructure for Deepgram's enterprise voice AI.[33]

In 2026, Penguin Solutions built the Spectra supercomputer, deployed under Sandia National Laboratories, with 128 Maverick-2 accelerators from NextSilicon using Penguin's OCP-based Tundra servers.[34][35][36]

Corporate leadership structure

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Kash Shaikh has served as the company's president and CEO since February 2026.[37] Shaikh succeeded Mark Adams, who served in the two roles, and was also the company's director from 2020 to 2026.[38] In August 2025, Penguin Solutions appointed Tony Frey as SVP and Chief Revenue Officer, and Ted Gillick as SVP of Strategy and Corporate Development.[39] In March 2026, the company appointed Ian Colle as its Chief Product Officer (CPO).[40] Nate Olmstead currently serves as the company's Chief Financial Officer, as of June 2024.[41]

Industry awards and recognition

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  • In November 2024, Penguin Solutions earned a spot in the HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards (2024), on the Editors' Choice list for the "Top 5 Vendors to Watch".[42]
  • In January 2025, Penguin's Stratus Technologies brand won an award from the 2025 BIG Innovation Awards for its Stratus ztC Endurance platform.[43]
  • In February 2025, Penguin Solutions won the "Best Hybrid Cloud Solution for Clusterware" award for 2024/2025 from The Cloud Awards.[44]
  • In March 2025, Penguin Solutions' OriginAI infrastructure solution won a BIG AI Excellence Award in the "Internet & Technology" category.[45]
  • In April 2025, Stratus Technologies won the "HPC Solution of the Year" award from the Data Breakthrough Awards Program.[46]
  • In June 2025, Penguin's Cree LED brand won the "ETQ Innovation Excellence Award".[47]
  • In April 2026, Penguin Solutions was named on USA Today's Climate Leaders List.[48]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Penguin Solutions, Inc. (88E.F) - Profile". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved September 22, 2026.
  2. ↑ Thurm, Scott (September 14, 1999). "Solectron Sets $2 Billion Stock Deal To Buy Smart Modular Technologies - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Francisco Partners, TPG and Shah Capital Partners Acquire Smart Modular Technologies | Mergr". mergr.com. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  4. ↑ "PE Silver Lake Partners to buy Smart Modular for $645 million". Reuters. April 26, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  5. ↑ LaPedus, Mark (April 26, 2011). "Silver Lake buys Smart Modular". EE Times. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Smart Modular Technologies in $645 Million Buyout". New York Times. April 26, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  7. ↑ "SMART Global Holdings, Inc. Prices Initial Public Offering" (Press release). Marketwired. May 24, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2026 – via Yahoo! Finance.
  8. ↑ Feldman, Michael (June 12, 2018). "Penguin Computing Acquired by SMART Global Holdings". Top500. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Penguin Computing Acquired by SMART Global Holdings for $85 Million". HPCWire. June 11, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  10. ↑ "SMART buys Artesyn Embedded Computing and Inforce". eeNews Europe. July 15, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  11. ↑ Moss, Sebastian (June 1, 2020). "AMD and Penguin deliver small supercomputing clusters to NYU, MIT, Rice for Covid-19 research". Data Center Dynamics. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Cree Completes Sale of its LED Business to SMART Global Holdings, Inc". Business Wire. March 1, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Lights out as Cree exits LED business with $300M sale". Optics.org. October 20, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  14. ↑ Peckham, Oliver (January 24, 2022). "Facebook Parent Meta's New AI Supercomputer Will Be 'World's Fastest'". HPCWire. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  15. ↑ Team, Space Foundation Editorial (February 22, 2022). "Beowulf Computing Cluster, Bubble Detector Technology, CubeSat Design Standard Announced as 2022 Space Technology Hall of Fame Inductees". Space Foundation. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  16. ↑ Weil, Nancy (June 10, 2003). "Penguin Computing acquires Beowulf clustering company". Network World. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  17. ↑ "New Penguin Solutions™ Brand Combines Expertise Across Edge, Core and Cloud" (Press release). Penguin Solutions. April 4, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 "Stratus Technologies Formally Becomes Penguin Solutions". Automation.com. International Society of Automation. May 7, 2025. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  19. ↑ Dorbian, Iris (June 30, 2022). "SGH to buy computing solutions provider Stratus Technologies". PE Hub. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  20. ↑ Maffei, Lucia (June 29, 2022). "Stratus Technologies ownership changes hands in $225M deal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  21. ↑ "NVIDIA DGX™-Ready Managed Services". NVIDIA. Retrieved September 22, 2026.
  22. ↑ "SK Telecom invests $200M in data center platform, computing provider". Light Reading. July 15, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  23. ↑ Lipton, Josh (July 16, 2024). "Spiking demand for AI infrastructure is powering SGH: CEO". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  24. ↑ Tomás, Juan Pedro (July 16, 2024). "SK Telecom invests $200m in US AI data center solutions company". RCR Wireless News. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  25. ↑ Gooding, Matthew (July 16, 2024). "SK Telecom invests $200m in Smart Global Holdings". Data Center Dynamics. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  26. ↑ Trueman, Charlotte (April 12, 2024). "Nvidia and Georgia Institute of Technology deploy AI supercomputer hub for students". SDxCentral. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  27. ↑ Chin, Spencer (April 15, 2024). "AI Makes Mark on Engineering Education". Design News. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  28. ↑ "peng-20241015". www.sec.gov. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  29. ↑ "SGH Becomes Penguin Solutions". Business Wire. October 15, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  30. ↑ "SGH Becomes Penguin Solutions". TED Magazine. October 18, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  31. ↑ Ghadialy, Zahid. "SK Telecom Builds AI Infrastructure Momentum with GPUaaS and the Haein Cluster". Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  32. ↑ Butler, Georgia (August 25, 2025). "SK Telecom launches GPUaaS based on Nvidia B200 cluster in South Korea". Data Center Dynamics. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  33. 1 2 "Penguin Solutions Selected by Deepgram to Enable Deployment of Optimized AI Inference Infrastructure for Enterprise Voice AI". Business Wire. March 17, 2026. Retrieved August 31, 2026 – via Yahoo! Finance.
  34. ↑ Nellis, Stephen (May 18, 2026). "As chip industry chases AI, U.S. national labs look to newcomers for supercomputers". Reuters. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  35. ↑ Mann, Tobias (May 18, 2026). "Uncle Sam's next big supercomputer might use something more exotic than GPUs". The Register. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  36. ↑ Woodie, Alex (May 18, 2026). "Sandia Lab Gives Approval to Spectra Supercomputer". HPCWire. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  37. ↑ "Penguin Solutions Appoints Kash Shaikh as President and CEO". TechIntelPro. February 4, 2026. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  38. ↑ "SMART Global Holdings Names Mark Adams as New CEO". Yahoo! Finance. August 13, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  39. ↑ "Penguin Solutions Leadership Changes". Storage Newsletter. August 1, 2025. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  40. ↑ "Penguin Solutions appoints Ian Colle as chief product officer". Tip Ranks. March 2, 2026. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  41. ↑ "SGH Appoints Nate Olmstead as SVP and Chief Financial Officer". HPCWire. June 26, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  42. ↑ "HPCwire Reveals Winners of the 21st Annual Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards During SC24 Conference". HPCWire. November 18, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  43. ↑ "Innovation Unleashed: Meet the Visionaries and Game-Changers of the 2025 BIG Innovation Awards". Business Intelligence Group. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  44. ↑ "'Best Hybrid Cloud Solution' Award". The Cloud Awards. August 23, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  45. ↑ "AI Breakthroughs of 2025: Celebrating the Visionaries, Innovators, and Trailblazers of the Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards". Business Intelligence Group. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  46. ↑ "2025 Winners: Data Breakthrough Awards". Data Breakthrough Awards. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  47. ↑ "Cree LED Named Winner of ETQ Innovation Excellence Awards 2025". GuruFocus. June 24, 2025. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
  48. ↑ Bryant, Jessica (April 20, 2026). "For Earth Day 2026, USA TODAY reveals America's Climate Leaders". USA Today. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
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