An Indian-American CEO of a semiconductor company was shot dead along with two other persons by a laid-off employee of the firm in northern California, police said.

Sid Agrawal, the chief executive officer of SiPort Inc, the company's vice president of operations Brian Pugh and an unidentified woman were killed when several rounds were fired on the premises of the firm in Santa Clara on Friday.

Police said investigators are searching for Jing Hua Wu, 47, in connection with the shooting. Jing worked as a lead product test engineer for the four-year-old firm, media reports in Silicon Valley said.

Police said he had recently been laid off from the company and investigators are exploring that as a possible motive in the shooting. It is believed that a handgun was used in the shooting, a police official told reporters.

Police released a description of the vehicle in which Jiang is believed to have fled and launched a manhunt for him.

According to his biography in the company's website, Agrawal had more than 25 years of experience at startup and established high-technology companies, including at Adobe, Intel and Bell Labs.

He held a degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, an MS degree from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.