There is such a thing as a natural-born Entrepreneur… But the accidental entrepreneur like me has to fall into the opportunity or be pushed into it.

Gordon Moore, The Accidental Entrepreneur

He fell into the magic potion when he accepted to join the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. He was employee number 18, and he was one of the traitorous eight who soon left the controversial Shockley in 1957, to found Fairchild Semiconductor.

In 1965, when he was asked by Electronics Magazine to predict what was going to happen in the semiconductor components industry over the next ten years, he wrote down “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits” in which he anticipated what would be called Moore’s Law. In 1968, he and Robert Noyce founded “NM” Electronics (they wanted more avoid “Moore Noyce”) It became Intel Corporation. The rest is 55 years of history till today.

Gordon Moore’s life perfectly matches the technological revolution starting with the invention of the transistor. He epitomizes the zeitgeist of Silicon Valley and the way innovation has happened for the last 70 years. It is also interesting to observe that he is saying goodbye just when Silicon Valley is showing clear signs of exhaustion as the magic cauldron of innovation, maybe entering into a new schumpeterian gale.

We will need more Moore’s. That’s for sure.

Ad astra, Mr. Moore!

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Featured Image: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation