Seznec is recognized for seminal work in branch prediction and cache memories
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., 17 June 2025 – The IEEE Computer Society (CS) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2025 ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award: André Seznec, SiFive Fellow on leave from INRIA/IRISA. The award honors Seznec’s extensive impact on computing, most notably his pioneering contributions to branch prediction and cache memories.
“André Seznec is a luminary in computer architecture,” said Hironori Washizaki, IEEE CS 2025 President. “His development of OGEHL and TAGE changed the field and today remain state‐of‐the‐art. His achievements can be found in billions of CPUs worldwide, creating a far-reaching impact on humanity and a significant legacy. We are honored to celebrate his contributions with this award.”
An IEEE Fellow, Seznec advanced computing through important inventions, including the TAGE branch predictor and skewed-associative cache. In fact, Seznec’s work has served as a gold standard of branch prediction for the last 15 years, with most current structures in industrial designs rooted in his seminal work. These achievements led to his selection as the 2020 recipient of the IEEE CS B. Ramakrishna Rau Award, which is given to those who offer substantial contributions in the field of computer microarchitecture and compiler code generation.
Over the course of his career, Seznec has published more than 100 papers, with many of his most notable contributions published solely under his name, demonstrating the profound impact he has had in solving some of the most challenging problems in computer architecture. His work serves as an example of how one researcher can achieve results that influence academia and industry for decades to come.
In addition, Seznec has been a dedicated supporter of industry education, collaboration, and advancement. For instance, he served multiple years on the organizing committee of the IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), acting as general chair in 2010 and program committee chair in 2016. He also supported the future of computing as an educator, having graduated 29PhD students from 1991 to 2021.
Seznec will be formally recognized with the Eckert-Mauchly Award on Tuesday, 24 June at 10:30am JST at ISCA 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
Biographical Background
André Seznec received his PhD in computer sciences from University of Rennes I in France.
In 1986, he joined INRIA, the French national research agency in computer science. Apart from a sabbatical in industry in 1999-2000, he spent most of his career at INRIA Rennes and was promoted as a Fellow Research Director in 2012. For the last few years, he has joined industry as an Intel Fellow (2021-2024), then a SiFive Fellow starting in 2024.
André Seznec has focused his research on processor architecture since the beginning of his Ph.D. thesis in 1983. His early contributions were on vector architectures, particularly the memory system. Since the beginning of the 1990s his main research activity has been focused on the architecture of microprocessors, including caches, pipeline, branch predictors, speculative execution, multithreading and multicores. Most members of the microarchitecture research community immediately identify André Seznec as the inventor of the TAGE branch predictor and of the skewed associative cache. His research has influenced the design of many high-end industrial microprocessors, particularly the caches and the branch predictors.
André Seznec has been the leader of compiler and architecture research groups, CAPS then ALF, at INRIA from 1994 to 2016. For his work on caches and predictors, he received the Intel Research Impact Medal in 2012, the 2019 Intel Outstanding Researcher award, and he was elevated to IEEE Fellow (2013) and ACM Fellow (2016).
About the Eckert-Mauchly Award
ACM and the IEEE Computer Society co-sponsor the Eckert-Mauchly Award, which was initiated in 1979. It recognizes contributions to computer and digital systems architecture and comes with a $5,000 prize. The award was named for John Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly, who collaborated on the design and construction of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the pioneering large-scale electronic computing machine, which was completed in 1947.
About IEEE Computer Society
Engaging computer engineers, scientists, academia, and industry professionals from all areas and levels of computing, the IEEE Computer Society (CS) serves as the world’s largest and most established professional organization of its type. IEEE CS sets the standard for the education and engagement that fuels continued global technological advancement. Through conferences, publications, and programs that inspire dialogue, debate, and collaboration, IEEE CS empowers, shapes, and guides the future of not only its 375,000+ community members, but the greater industry, enabling new opportunities to better serve our world. Visit computer.org for more information.
