Microchip pioneer and Intel Corp co-founder Gordon Moore has died at the age of 94.
Co-creator of the American tech company Intel in 1968, Moore was one of the engineers to put “Intel Inside” processors in more than 80% of the world’s personal computers.
The company announced on Friday that he had died surrounded by his family at his home in Hawaii.
Moore described himself as an “accidental entrepreneur” having started Intel – the word’s largest microchip manufacturer – with Robert Noyce.
In 2023 his net worth was estimated at $7.2bn (£5.8bn).
In a 1965 article, Moore predicted a steady rise in computing power due to rapid improvements in technology, which became known as “Moore’s Law”.
The law was updated every two years and helped push Intel and rival microchip-makers to aggressively target their research and development resources to make sure that came true.
More than 40 years before the launch of Apple and the iPhone, Moore wrote: “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.”
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Following the article, microchips became more efficient and less expensive. This helped to drive technological progress across the globe, paving the way for Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple.
In recent years it has been argued Moore’s Law does not hold as much value because improvements in microchip manufacturing have slowed down.
Intel’s current chief executive, Pat Gelsinger, said the company still invests billions of dollars in an effort to continue to update the law.
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In a 2005 interview, Moore said of his career: “I was very fortunate to get into the semiconductor industry in its infancy.
“And I had an opportunity to grow from the time where we couldn’t make a single silicon transistor to the time where we put 1.7 billion of them on one chip!
“It’s been a phenomenal ride.”