Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corp. and pioneer in the semiconductor industry, passed away peacefully at the age of 94 at his home in Hawaii on Friday, as announced by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Moore was the originator of Moore’s Law, which stated that the number of transistors on a computer chip, determining the speed and memory of an electronic device, would double every year. Despite being revised in 1975, Moore’s Law is still followed by Intel and other semiconductor makers in the industry. Moore’s Law was a key factor in Intel’s emergence as the world’s largest semiconductor maker at one point. Noting that the most cost-efficient circuit at that time held 50 transistors, he had predicted that number would roughly double each year to 65,000; modern microprocessors, however, have billions of transistors. Intel supplies about 80% of the world’s personal computers with microprocessors. Intel and other semiconductor companies still develop products according to a version of Moore’s Law, which remains as a yardstick for progress within and beyond the chip industry. Moore, who was the CEO of Intel from 1975 to 1987, attracted increasing sums of funding to improve the manufacturing of tiny electronic components, which allowed his company to gain a lead that rivals could not keep up with. Moore’s Technology made Intel technology the hardware heart of the personal computer revolution, then the internet revolution, until the company’s Asian rivals challenged its leadership. Moore expressed surprise at the influence and longevity of Moore’s Law of which he preferred to demystify and downplay.
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel and creator of Moore’s Law, dies at age 94.
