Intel co-founder Gordon Moore passes away at 94

Gordon Moore, who co-founded semiconductor giant Intel and trailblazed the microprocessor industry that developed computers and smartphones like we know them today, has died at the age of 94.

Intel, which Moore launched in 1968, said he died "surrounded by family at his home in Hawaii." He had retired from the company in 2006.

Why was Moore so instrumental to the computing industry?

Moore was among the pioneers in the semiconductor industry, which is responsible for making computing devices such as laptops and smartphones smaller and smaller.

He joined Fairchild Semiconductor Laboratory, among the earliest firms working on commercially viable transistors and integrated circuits, in 1957 after earning a PhD from CalTech.

The growth of the company came in parallel with the transformation of the peninsula of land south of San Francisco into what we now know as Silicon Valley.

Moore and his longtime colleague Robert Noyce defected from Fairchild in 1968, to launch what will become known as Intel. Andy Grove, the future Intel CEO, was soon to join them.

What is 'Moore's law'?

Intel dominated the semiconductor industry for decades, with Moore often acting as the fuel to the engine, pouring in the hours and hard work to refine Noyce's ideas. He described himself to Fortune magazine as an "accidental entrepreneur."

Among his longest surviving achievements was what was coined as "Moore's Law." In an article he published in 1965, Moore predicted that the trend of annually doubling the number of transistors on microchips since the invention of integrated circuits would continue. He later revised it to every two years.

"Moore's law" held true for decades, and was used to explain the rapid rate of technological advancement.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger mourned the industry prodigy on Twitter, vowing to "work relentlessly to exponentially outdo what he and Robert Noyce set out to do" at Intel.

"He leaves behind a legacy that changed the lives of every person on the planet. His memory will live on," Gelsinger said.

rmt/wd (AFP, Reuters)