One of the founding co-founders of the semiconductor company Intel and the father of Moore’s Law, Gordon Moore, died at the age of 94. According to a statement released by Intel and the Gordon as well as Betty Moore Foundation, Gordon Moore passed away peacefully on Friday at his residence in Hawaii, Among his loved ones.
In July 1968, Moore and his lifelong friend Robert Noyce established Intel. Noyce and Moore founded Fairchild Semiconductor before starting Intel, whereby they were instrumental in the first practical manufacture of dispersed discrete transistors and then the first financially viable computer chips.
Up until 1975, Moore held the position of executive vice president at Intel before being promoted to president. Moore was appointed board president and CEO in 1979, positions he maintained until 1987, whereupon he resigned from the CEO role but retained the chairmanship. Moore was appointed chairman emeritus in 1997 and retired in 2006.
Throughout his life, Moore also gave his attention and effort to philanthropy, notably to the advancement of science, the environment, and clinical management. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation was founded by him and his wife of 72 years, Betty, in 2000, and since then, it has given more than $5.1 billion to philanthropic causes.
The CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, credited Gordon Moore with helping to disclose the power of transistors and inspiring entrepreneurs and technologists for decades. Along with playing a crucial part in the establishment of two of the world’s most innovative technology firms, Moore is well-known for predicting in 1965 that the transistor count on a semiconductor technology would doubled annually. This forecasting is now recognized as Moore’s Law.
