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Gordon Moore

Original nameGordon Moore

Co-Founder of Intel, Proposer of "Moore’s Law"

Those Who Turned Invention Into Industry · Industry-Builders

Moore’s LawIntelThe Exponential Growth of the Semiconductor Industry

Who they are

Gordon Moore (1929–2023) was a co-founder of Intel who in 1965, in an article written for a trade magazine, based on his observation of the trend of semiconductor manufacturing process, proposed the prediction that the number of transistors that could be held on an integrated circuit would roughly double every one to two years while unit cost fell correspondingly, a prediction thereafter called "Moore’s law." Moore’s law was at first only an empirical observation based on limited historical data, yet was continually borne out by the actual technical evolution of the semiconductor industry over the more than half-century after, gradually evolving from a mere observation into an industry goal and self-fulfilling prophecy the whole chip industry in effect commonly followed in setting long-term technology roadmaps and R&D investment plans. Moore, with Robert Noyce, co-founded Intel, continually driving integrated-circuit manufacturing toward higher integration density and lower unit cost, providing the most fundamental industrial driving force for the continual improvement in performance and continual fall in cost of later personal computers, smartphones, and almost all modern electronic equipment. Moore himself was low-key and modest, and in his later years put most of his energy and wealth into the Moore Foundation, focusing on funding environmental protection and basic scientific research.

Primary sourcesGordon Moore’s 1965 Electronics magazine article "Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits"

Key stories

An Empirical Observation in One Article Became the Industry Bible

In an article Moore wrote for Electronics magazine in 1965, on the exceedingly limited historical data of the semiconductor industry at the time alone, he boldly predicted that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would keep growing at roughly a doubling per year, and this prediction, at first only an empirical extrapolation from short-term observation, was over the more than half-century after repeatedly borne out by the actual technical evolution of the semiconductor industry, gradually evolving from a mere observation into an industry development goal the global chip industry commonly followed in concert, even actively pouring huge investment into to ensure it was achieved.

The "Traitorous Eight" and the Birth of Intel

Moore and seven colleagues including Robert Noyce had earlier worked together at Fairchild Semiconductor, and over a disagreement with the founder on management ideas the eight resigned collectively to start anew, an event thereafter called the "traitorous eight," one of the earliest classic cases of the distinctive Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecology of "technical talent flowing freely and frequently setting up new ventures"; Moore and Noyce, precisely on this experience, thereafter co-founded Intel.

Version differences

Whether "Moore’s law" still holds is, in recent years, as the semiconductor process nears physical limits, an ongoing technical discussion in the industry over whether it has "ended" or in what form it will continue, with differing judgments.

Relationships

Disciple

📱Steve Jobs

Ally

🔌Jack Kilby

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

"Moore’s law" as a general metaphor for the speed of innovationThe term "Moore’s law" was thereafter widely borrowed for the exponential rapid iteration of technology in any field (such as "Moore’s law of batteries"), beyond the context of the semiconductor industry itself.

Appears in

The Birth of the Computer and the Information AgeA Chip, a Law, and a Moon-Landing Alarm

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