Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel and creator of Moore’s Law – the mantra of boundless technological development that came to define the digital age – has died at the age of 94.

Moore died Friday at his home in Hawaii, according to the company and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

From humble roots as the son of the mayor of Pescadero, California, Moore went on to create Intel, one of the greatest technological powers of the 20th century.

Moore, who was trained as a chemist, was an early pioneer in the creation of integrated circuits, the silicon chips that came to form the backbone of modern technology.

He was among a small group of engineers and scientists, including Nobel laureate William Shockley, one of the co-inventors of the transistor, and Robert Noyce, the co-inventor of the integrated circuit, who put silicon into Silicon Valley.

But what set Moore apart from many of his legendary peers was that he also possessed a combination of skills that extended far beyond mere technique.

As Intel’s chairman, Moore has guided the company with the demeanor of a local and the spirit of a Las Vegas gambler.

Taking the risky path came naturally to him, though he always maintained that his risks were obvious choices to be made.

“This is a fast-moving business,” he once said in an interview. “Unless you are willing to take technical and financial risks, you are doomed. Things change so quickly, if you don’t, you die.”

Moore described himself as an “accidental entrepreneur”, although the success of Intel—and Moore’s status as one of the richest men in the country due to his Intel holdings—belied his modest assessment.

Although Moore’s co-founding of the microprocessor giant in 1968 cemented his place in the history of modern technology, he may be best known for what has come to be known as Moore’s Law.

In 1965, Moore made the simple observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit seemed to double every year.

The integrated circuit was invented just seven years ago, and the most anyone could etch on the thin silicon wafers that would fuel the growth of the electronics industry was about 50 transistors.

Looking at a graph of chip development, Moore stretched the line forward 10 years and predicted that by 1975 there would be 65,000 transistors on a single silicon chip. It seemed an oddly high number at the time, but Moore was right on target.

Moore modified his prediction several times during his life, eventually settling on the prediction that the number of transistors would double every 18 to 24 months rather than every year.

But even though the exact formula for Moore’s Law has changed, the spirit of rapid technological progress has remained constant. It became the dogma of the electronic world and a mantra for the Deguerati eagerly awaiting the next great thing.

Moore wrote in 1965: “Integrated circuits will do wonders as home computers – or at least terminals connected to a mainframe, automatic controllers for cars, and portable personal communications equipment.”

The descendants of the first raw chips Moore designed went on to power personal computers, cars, cell phones and even watches.

“It’s funny how Moore’s Law is what he’s best known for,” he said in a 1997 interview with Business Week. “It was just a relatively minor observation.”

The accuracy of Moore’s Law has become the cornerstone of business planning in the electronics industry.

Gordon Earl Moore almost fits the image of a prophet of the digital age. He was quiet and down-to-earth, an unassuming, slightly balding scholar who kept a little bit of his small-town roots in the midst of the pace of Silicon Valley.

Moore was born in San Francisco on January 3, 1929, to Walter and Florence Moore. The family eventually settled in Pescadero, about 30 miles south, where his father was the district’s deputy chief of police.

Moore seemed destined for an academic career after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BA in Chemistry in 1950 and a PhD in Chemistry and Physics from Caltech in 1954.

After a short stint at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, he went to work in 1956 for Shockley, who had formed his own company, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, to develop the transistor. Shockley was a heavy-handed, moody and volatile manager. After working for only a year, Moore and most of Shockley’s top scientists revolted.

The “Traitorous Eight,” as Shockley called them, split off and started Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957. The creation of Fairchild was one of the crucial turning points in the history of electronics, allowing Moore and others to pursue research that helped their partner, Robert Noyce, to devise a commercially viable process for miniaturizing circuits Complete on a silicon chip – integrated circuit.

Moore and Noyce left Fairchild in 1966 and two years later set up their own company to exploit integrated circuit development. They named their company Integrated Electronics but later shortened it to Intel.

With the help of Arthur Rock, Silicon Valley’s first horde of venture capitalists, Noyce and Moore easily raised $2.3 million and got in on the act. Noyce served as CEO of the new company with Rock as President and Moore as Executive Vice President.

Intel began manufacturing memory chips and rising to profitability by embracing the company’s strategy of innovating at a rapid pace so that it could command a premium for its products.

Moore took over as CEO of Intel in 1975, a few years before his company began being affected by the influx of cheap memory chips from Japanese manufacturers that had commoditized Intel’s flagship product.

Intel started losing money and laying off workers. By the mid-1980s, Intel was beginning to lag behind the very industry that had created it.

By 1985, even Moore was starting to look bleak. Moore told shareholders at the time that the economic downturn was “probably the greatest in the history of the semiconductor industry.”

“We’re taking the excesses out of the red-hot electronics industry,” he said. “What happened? Lady Fortune frowned. Intel should be well up and ready when Dame Fortune smiles again.”

In 1984 and 1985, Intel was still spending more than $1 billion on chip manufacturing equipment and facilities. It was all part of Moore’s belief that staying ahead of the curve was key to success and the company would eventually bounce back.

Moore and the company’s president, Andrew S. Grove, set about refocusing Intel away from cheap memory chips to high-margin microprocessors—the brains of the computer.

In 1987, Moore stepped down as CEO of Grove, though he remained active in directing the company as president.

Moore has also served himself as a member of the Caltech Board of Trustees and as a patriarch of the electronics industry.

In 1950, Moore married Betty Irene Whitaker, who survived him. Moore was also survived by sons Kenneth and Stephen and four grandchildren.

Compilations of thirsty videos and comments dedicated to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew began appearing on the platform after the CEO Congressional testimony Yesterday, when he spent five hours defending the platform before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On TikTok, fan edits dedicated to the 40-year-old declared him the “TikTok daddy” and “the best CEO of our generation.”

Qiu was at the head of questions lawmakers had about the future of the popular video-sharing app, which currently has more than 150 million monthly users in the US alone.

Both Democratic and Republican politicians have expressed concerns about the app’s China-based parent company and what that means for user safety, data privacy, and national security. Some legislators have named The platform to be banned in the US due to concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, could or would share US user data with the Chinese government. In his testimony, Qiu said there was no evidence that the Chinese government had accessed user data.

Qiu Fei said written agreement that began his testimony.

There are currently three bills in Congress that could affect Americans’ access to TikTok. Two would pass legislation to strictly ban the platform, while the other would give the government the power to ban any technologies deemed a national security risk.

Yesterday’s session put TikTok’s CEO in the spotlight as he asserted that banning the app would be harmful to millions of American businesses, and that a new subsidiary named Texas Project It will provide a useful solution that will allow the application to remain active in the United States.

While lawmakers seemed unconvinced, Chew’s defense of the app, including his praise for sub-communities within the app, such as “BookTok,” a community for people to discuss reading recommendations, seemed to strike a chord with those who found inspiration on the platform.

Online, a growing group of creators seemed to admire Chew’s performance despite his hearing-strained nature and showed their admiration in the most colorful of ways: by creating edits and fan memos.

The latest clash between the United States and China over popular social media app TikTok is likely to worsen already strained relations between the two countries, as Beijing and Washington wrestle over software bans, technology exports and concerns about espionage and national security.

Last week, the Biden administration She renewed Trump-era efforts To allay security concerns about TikTok, which was created by Chinese tech giant Bytedance Ltd. , by demanding that the widely popular app be sold from Chinese ownership or face a possible ban in the United States on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said. It was bipartisan grilled by a House committee whose members asked specific questions about data security, alleged racial bias toward content creators and the platform’s mental health effects.

Chinese government, determined to transform domestic technology companies in world championssaid it would oppose any sale of TikTok.

Here the dispute stands.

How is China responding?

Hours before Qiu began testifying before a congressional committee on Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Xu Jueting said that China They firmly oppose the demands US officials said TikTok would be sold, adding that any change in ownership must comply with Chinese regulations.

Xu said the forced sale would “seriously damage the confidence of investors from all over the world, including China, to invest in the United States.”

Commentators, in Chinese official and social media, criticized US lawmakers for their biased statements and questions at Qiu’s hearing. Others have dismissed the event as political theater, or accused the US of trying to steal the technology that powers TikTok’s addictive short video recommendations.

Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the United States has no evidence that TikTok poses a threat to national security and should stop discriminating against foreign companies.

China has always emphasized that Data security issue It should not be used as a tool for certain countries to popularize the concept of national security and abuse of state power to unreasonably oppress other countries’ companies.”

But some analysts question how far Beijing will go to protect TikTok. Angela Chang, director of the Center for Chinese Law at the University of Hong Kong, said that while the Chinese government has taken action to prevent the sale of TikTok and its underlying technology without its consent, it is less concerned about a US ban on the app.

The ban on TikTok does not do much harm to China’s national interests become a technologically advanced countryZhang said. “TikTok will have to fight this battle alone.”

Can the US impose a sale or an embargo?

China’s announcement that it would block a sale complicates any US efforts to advance the deal, especially since Beijing added export restrictions on domestic technology in 2020 that require government approval.

Absent divestment, the Biden administration may be left with few options besides pursuing an outright ban on the app. The United States has already blocked the download and use of TikTok on some government agencies Because of national security concerns. Earlier this month, the White House passed a bill that would allow President Biden to completely ban the social media app.

The move renewed pressure dating back to 2020, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok and WeChat, another popular Chinese app Used for social messaging and communication. Bytedance explored a potential sale of an ownership stake in TikTok to Oracle, which was never finalized. Federal courts have also challenged then-President Trump’s attempts to block the app a few years ago.

That year, India banned more than 50 Chinese apps, including TikTok, after escalating border skirmishes and growing concerns about Chinese military aggression. Governments in Britain, Canada and New Zealand have also restricted TikTok to government-owned devices.

Just what is the problem with TikTok?

According to TikTok, the app has about 150 million monthly active users in the US, but its widespread popularity has exacerbated suspicions among US officials that user data collected in the US could be transferred and used for espionage in China.

Republican and Democratic politicians in favor of selling or banning TikTok have cited concerns about the security of user data, and whether that information could be obtained by the Chinese government. They also took aim at TikTok’s history of content moderation, potential for spreading misinformation and Adverse effects on young peoplethe largest user base of the application.

To the American people watching today, hear this: TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you and manipulate and exploit what you see. [it] Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said during the hearing Thursday with TikTok CEO Chew.

In addition, Chew, who is Singaporean, faced questions about the charges Human rights violations in China and espionage, based on a Forbes report that Bytedance planned to use TikTok to monitor the locations of some US citizens.

In China, many US technology platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google have been blocked as part of the country’s strict internet censorship. Instead of TikTok, Chinese users have a sister version called Douyin, which is more strictly moderated than its overseas counterpart and limits the time young users can spend on the app.

Has TikTok addressed these concerns?

In his congressional appearance, Chew rejected the notion that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party or a threat to US national security.

Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not It is owned or controlled by the Chinese government. In his opening statement, Qiu said it is a private company.

He assured the committee that TikTok would prioritize teen safety, protect US user data from unauthorized foreign access, guarantee freedom of expression and provide access to independent monitors to ensure transparency.

Qiu also outlined the company’s proposal to alleviate concerns about Chinese government influence. He said the company spent nearly $1.5 billion implementing the plan, called Project Texas, which involves the use of Oracle cloud computing company To direct and store user data in the United States, which gives the Austin, Texas company access to some of its technology.

“Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access or force access to it,” he said.

But his five hours of testimony did little to assuage lawmakers’ concerns about the app.

Researcher David Shin in Taipei contributed to this report.