Gordon Moore: Intel co-founder, creator of Moore’s Law passes away at 94

Intel Corp co-founder, Gordon Moore who is also hailed as a pioneer for his work in the semiconductor industry and Silicon Valley has passed away at the age of 94 in Hawaii, United States. According to a statement by Intel and Moore’s family philanthropic foundation, he died on Friday (March 24) surrounded by family at his home.

Moore and his longtime colleague Robert Noyce co-founded Intel in July 1968, where the former initially served as executive vice president until 1975, when he became president and also went on to become the chief executive and chairman of the board.

In an article published around six decades ago, Moore noted that due to technological advancements, the number of transistors on microchips had roughly doubled every year since integrated circuits were invented a few years before.

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“Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers – or at least terminals connected to a central computer – automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment,” Moore had written, as per Reuters.

The prediction of the trend was at least 20 years before the PC revolution and more than 40 years before Apple launched the iPhone which came to be known as “Moore’s Law”. The insight had become the core of the computer processor industry and is said to have influenced the PC revolution.

After his article, in 1965, chips rapidly became less expensive and more efficient which also helped in driving the world’s technological progress for nearly half a century. This allowed the advent of not just personal computers but the internet and Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Facebook and Google.

According to reports, the number of transistors on microchips has nearly doubled every year since integrated circuits were invented a few years earlier. Notably, he had also gone on to revise the law and said the doubling would occur every two years.

Moore earned his PhD in chemistry and physics at the California Institute of Technology and joined Fairchild Semiconductor Laboratory, in 1957 one of the earliest firms to manufacture commercially viable transistors and integrated circuits. As the company grew, it led to the transformation of the peninsula of land south of San Francisco into what is now known as Silicon Valley.

In 1968, Noyce and Moore quit Fairchild, to start the memory chip company soon to be named Intel, an abbreviation of Integrated Electronics and their first hire was another Fairchild colleague, Andy Grove who went on to become the CEO. “All I was trying to do was get that message across, that by putting more and more stuff on a chip we were going to make all electronics cheaper”, said Moore in 2008. In the same year, he retired from Intel in 2008.

In 2023 Forbes magazine estimated Moore’s net worth at $7.2 billion. Notably, over his lifetime Moore has donated more than $5.1 billion to charitable causes through the foundation which he set up with his wife Betty, over two decades ago. Moore was also a longtime sport fisherman, pursuing his passion all over the world.

(With inputs from agencies)

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