Gordon Moore, Co-founder of Intel Corp.
2011 IW Manufacturing Hall of Fame Inductee
Anyone who has ever used a personal computer owes a debt of gratitude to Gordon Moore.
When Moore and Robert Noyce left Fairchild Semiconductor to form Intel Corp. in 1968, they created a company -- and an industry -- that forever changed how the world works.
"There were no personal computers before Intel drove the microprocessor to the level it's achieved," Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates noted in a video marking the 40th anniversary of the world's first microprocessor, which Intel launched in 1971.
While Noyce served as CEO during Intel's early years, Moore's now-famous theory on the pace of silicon-technology development laid the foundation for the company's -- and the industry's -- basic business model.
In 1965, Moore predicted that the number of components the semiconductor industry would be able to place on a computer chip would double every year (in 1975, he revised his theory to two years). Business-performance author Jim Collins believes "Moore's Law" has been a cornerstone of Intel's success.
"Is Intel an innovation story? Yes, in part. But ultimately it is a consistency story of driving down Moore's Law year after year," Collins said in a recent interview with IndustryWeek. "The original Gordon Moore article appeared in 1965. The early articulation of Moore's Law wasn't just to double the number of components on a chip, but to do so at affordable cost. That was the critical thing -- at affordable cost.
"... [Intel] had this incredible reputation for delivering consistently and getting its cost in line and making good on its promises to customers consistently, and then its customers could rely on them consistently. If Intel only had innovative chips but hadn't had that incredible consistency in the way it went about building things, it would not have been Intel."
After serving as executive vice president during Intel's early years, Moore became president and CEO in 1975 and held that post until he was elected chairman and CEO in 1979. He remained CEO until 1987 and was named chairman emeritus in 1997.
