The co-founder of Intel and pioneer of Moore's Law has passed away at 92

The backstory: Gordon Moore is the tech genius who co-founded Intel Corporation and helped launch the technological revolution that has transformed our world over the past 50 years.

Back in 1957, Moore kicked off his work on semiconductors, launching Fairchild Semiconductor with his colleague, Robert Noyce. A few years later, in 1968, he teamed up with Noyce to establish Intel. But it was a few years prior, in 1965, that Moore made an iconic prediction – that the number of transistors found on microchips would double each year. This became known as "Moore's Law" and served as a benchmark for chipmakers, spurring them to prioritize research and development to maintain that sky-high rate of chip performance growth.

Without Moore's efforts, memory chips wouldn't be nearly as efficient or affordable as they are today. His groundbreaking work in this field also played a significant role in developing Silicon Valley, paving the way for tech titans such as Apple, Meta and Alphabet. In his later years, Moore turned his attention to philanthropy and established the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The development: On Friday, Moore passed away at the age of 94 at his Hawaii residence, surrounded by loved ones. Morris Chang, the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), expressed his condolences and shared that he had been great friends with Moore for over six decades, emphasizing his deep respect for him. Pat Gelsinger also paid tribute to Moore's incredible legacy, stating that his vision and insight had revolutionized the technology industry.

Key comments:

"With Gordon gone, almost all of my first generation semiconductor colleagues are gone," said Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, in a statement.

"Today, we lost a visionary. Gordon Moore, thank you for everything," tweeted Intel.

"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," wrote Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, in his paper, two decades prior to the PC revolution and over 40 years before the iPhone was launched.

"It sure is nice to be at the right place at the right time," said Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in an interview around 2005. "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."