I was also struck by an announcement four days earlier, namely news of the release of the Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I mention this for two reasons.

First, it called to mind that, later in his life, Gordon leveraged a sizeable portion of his formidable wealth and influence to support environmental initiatives and protect our planet by establishing the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Here’s an excerpt from that institution’s Statement of Founders’ Intent:

“Our interest in environmental conservation stems from our personal observations of changes in the natural world and from the dependency of all living species on the planet’s health. During our lifetimes we have observed the transformation of much of what was natural wilderness to highly-developed property. Jungles have become golf courses; beaches, condominium developments; and the oceans have been over-fished and become garbage dumps. With these changes, precious ecosystem functions are lost, often forever. Huge areas of the planet are in danger of having their basic structure altered as a consequence of development and exploitation of resources. [Our Foundation seeks to support] pragmatic solutions that maintain the integrity of essential ecosystem functions while accommodating necessary development and other activity.”

So, in the same week that the IPCC was issuing its latest, much-anticipated, and (per usual) good-news/bad-news report on climate change, we found ourselves bidding farewell to an tech industry leader who established a powerful and lasting legacy focused on countering and mitigating many of the darker trends outlined in the report. (Since its founding in 2000, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has granted $2.2 billion in support of environmental initiatives, or just under 50% of the foundation’s total grants awarded… That’s forward thinking and generosity on a massive scale!)

If you think about it, a second legacy that Gordon predicted and left us with is the increasingly powerful and positive role that silicon, microprocessors and PCBAs are playing in achieving the goals furthered by Gordon’s and Betty’s philanthropic endeavors.

Consider the positive, enabling, and even critical role electronics are playing in advancing ‘green’ technology. Here at CST alone, we’ve helped develop, manufacture and plan to deliver a wide and diverse array of PCBAs intended for truly exciting ‘green’ applications.) Here are just a few examples:

Given these and other instances in which electronics are helping civilization reduce its negative impact on planet Earth, I believe all of us can, and should, take a measure of pride in making these kinds of technologies possible. I know we, at CST, do. And I believe Gordon Moore undoubtedly did, too.

–  Shantanu R. Gupta,
President & CEO, Cascade Systems Technology

PS: If you are building products in any of the clean-tech segments outlined above, contact us and we would be happy to partner with you to make a difference to the future of our planet!

Last month, I had the high honor and genuine pleasure to serve as the moderator of an online panel discussion held by the Intel Alumni Network. Held on January 11 and recorded for posterity – see the link below — the event was accurately titled “The Intel 386 Processor – A watershed moment in computing.”

As you’ll see, the panel provided fascinating behind-the-scenes perspectives from some of the top innovators assigned to what was then considered Intel’s “Job 1” in the early 1980s, designated as such by legendary then-CEO Andy Grove who rightly staked the company’s future on pivoting away from the commoditized memory business toward the infinite promise of microprocessors.

Included on the panel were John Crawford, Claude Leglise, Joseph “Chip” Krauskopf, and current Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger (see their bios below), all of whom clearly enjoyed sharing stories, insights, lessons learned, and friendly reminiscences about the challenges, objectives & strategies, innovations, and camaraderie that characterized the development of Intel’s 386 microprocessor. (It is not an exaggeration to say Intel’s 386 played a seminal role in catalyzing the PC industry in the mid-1980s, which in turn enabled the subsequent ubiquity of microprocessors in countless consumer, business, and industrial electronics we rely on and take for granted today!)

As you dive into the panel discussion – honestly, I think any and all lovers of technology will find it interesting – you may wish to take note of several threads I’ve touched on in recent months here in CST’s blog, among them:

• The importance of educating and providing opportunities for the next generation of technological innovators. As you’ll see, the panelists and their team-mates were largely recent graduates with freshly minted degrees in computer science or other engineering disciplines. Given both a high-stakes objective and a long leash by Intel’s upper management – and blessed with brilliant minds, determination, and a scrappy, can-do attitude – the 386 team and initiative is a perfect case history for why our industry, indeed our nation, should aggressively invest in STEM education.
• Given the intensity of the effort, long hours, risk taking, and multi-person focus on a single goal – a remarkable espirit de corps emerged on the 386 project. I’ve seen and written about the value of teamwork at CST and seen it first hand during my own time at Intel. Yet another reminder how strong teams can achieve incredible results!
• Several of my recent blog posts touched on how critical it is that the United States invests in creating a fully formed semiconductor ecosystem – or, more precisely, recreating the infrastructure we’d begun to develop before the off-shoring craze of the 1990s. When you consider the vast and far-reaching impact that Intel’s 386 had on the PC market following its introduction, it’s no great leap to imagine all we might once again achieve by fostering and investing in the semiconductor-based technology innovation engine right here in America.
• Last but not least, the very exercise of looking back at the early days of the microprocessor is instructive in that it serves as a tangible reminder that we, too, are entering a whole new, but in some ways remarkably similar, technology revolution. AI, IoT, autonomous transportation, augmented and virtual reality, cloud and edge computing, smart cities, astounding technological advances in green and clean-energy, a new era in space exploration… In my heart, this time feels very much like the extraordinary frontier we were entering with the 386. Let us learn, take some of our cues, and take inspiration from those exciting, not-so-distant days.

I hope you enjoy watching and listening to this discussion as much as I enjoyed leading it!

–  Shantanu R. Gupta,
President & CEO, Cascade Systems Technology

Panel member biographies:

Claude Leglise started working at Intel straight out of graduate school in 1982 as a Product Marketing Engineer for the 8086/8088 processors. A year later in 1983, he was promoted to marketing manager for the 286 and 386 families, where he was responsible for the successful launch of the 386. As the marketing director for all microprocessors, he led the public launches of several new products, including the 386SX, 486, and i860. After spending 23 years at Intel, Claude switched careers and became a venture capitalist. He has one US patent to his name.

Chip Krauskopf joined Intel and the 386 project in 1983 with a BS in Computer Engineering and an MSEE. He was part of the team responsible for the design of the Segmentation Unit of the 386, which solved the infamous “64K limit” problem for software programmers and earned him an Intel Individual Achievement Award. He later managed the design automation for the 486 and spent 20 years at Intel before moving on to work for startups. Chip has 6 US patents to his name, 5 of which were awarded for his contributions to the 386 project, and has received 4 Intel Achievement Awards.

John Crawford started his career at Intel as a software developer for 8086 programming tools for 4 years before being assigned to the 386 project as its first employee. He served as the Architect, defining the instruction set, and led the development of the microcode and test programs. He went on to lead similar roles on the 486 and Pentium processors. John is now retired and was named an Intel Fellow and member of the National Academy of Engineering. He holds 52 patents and was awarded the ACM/IEEE Eckert-Mauchly Award.

Pat Gelsinger is the CEO of Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker. He joined the company in 1979 and has held a variety of leadership positions in engineering and product groups. Prior to his current role, Gelsinger was the CEO of cloud computing company VMWare. Under his leadership, Intel is focusing on growth and innovation in both its core business and new areas such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. As CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger has made several significant contributions and launched important initiatives to drive the company’s growth and competitiveness, including:

• Investment in advanced manufacturing, including a multi-billion-dollar plan to build two new fabs in the United States and expand existing facilities.
• Focus on AI and data-centric innovation, including the acquisition of Habana Labs, a leading AI chipmaker.
• Partnership with other tech companies to accelerate Intel’s growth and innovation in key areas such as 5G networks, cloud computing, and IoT.
• Reinvigorating Intel’s core PC business, responding to increased competition and supply chain disruptions with several new products and initiatives.

Shantanu Gupta (panel moderator) spent 28 years working at Intel in a variety of roles, including server CPU design development, marketing, and business development for existing and new markets. He joined Intel after finishing graduate school and initially worked on the Intel 960 processor before joining the design team for the Pentium Pro (P6), Intel’s first server processor before Xeon. He has nine patents in the field of processor architecture and design from his work on the Pentium Pro (P6). Today, he is the CEO of Cascade Systems Technology, an EMS company located in Hillsboro, Oregon.

In its own words (which you can peruse more closely on the Techstart website), “TechStart is an Oregon-based 501(c)3 non-profit…created by Oregon technology leaders with the goal of expanding access to computer science education for K-12 students in our state. …an all-volunteer organization, [the] organization is allied with the Technology Association of Oregon.”

TechStart’s mission, in other words, centers on and align with the same truths I mentioned previously, among them: “we live in a digital economy, where technical skills are essential for millions of jobs,” that “our nation is projected to have a substantial shortfall of tech professionals for years to come,” and that “to build a stronger workforce, to plan for our state’s future, and to give today’s kids the best opportunities to thrive in tomorrow’s economy, we need to help our schools and educators.”

Enter teachers like TJ Wilson, a career and technical education (CTE) teacher at Willamina Middle and High School, who, among other 2022 TechStart award winners, won this year’s “rising star” award.

TJ was nominated by his school’s principal, Jami Fluke, and recognized by me and my fellow judges, in part, because he had the vision and doggedly marshalled the resources to support his school’s CTE curriculum by putting together what TechStart board member, Peter Steinfeld, describes as “an amazing set of automated machines that they’re using on a variety of projects doing metal working, wood working, sign making, and much more.” With this equipment in place, TJ’s students learn to use software to design products and operate a range of equipment, such as a CNC laser, CNC mill, CNC press brake, CNC router, and 3D printers.

As inspiring as TJ’s story and the accomplishments of his peers are, as a judge in this year’s TechStart awards I was equally struck by (let’s call it) the STEM ecosystem was in the process. (In its way, it is not unlike the parallel ecosystem I’ve been writing about recently in the semiconductor arena.) For the STEM discipline to work and yield results in the coming years initiative to work, a host of ecosystem partners will be necessary to its success.

These include:

• Educators at all levels (K-12, trade schools, community colleges, universities) – We will need schools, school boards, teachers, principals, clubs, parents, and even taxpayers who see the value of investing time, capital, equipment, class-space, and curriculum planning in support of STEM initiatives. Oh, and maker spaces, lots of maker spaces!
• Independent STEM organizations – One example would be the founding visionaries and board members of TechStart, who recognize the importance of STEM and then do something about it, by volunteering time, talent, and energy and much more.
• Trade organizations – such as the Technology Association of Oregon who align with STEM-focused schools and the TechStarts of the world.
• Public sector entities (aka: government), economic development organizations, and elected officials – who provide funding through grants, collaborating partnerships, resources, meeting spaces, and, importantly, space on their already busy agendas and calendars
• And the private sector – whose financial support, material donations, volunteerism, and other modest-effort/huge-impact involvement in STEM programs bring their efforts and programming full circle. After all, who — more than industry – will most benefit from tomorrow’s well-trained, tech-skilled, motivated, and energized workforce? And all it takes, as I’ve seen from my own experience at a TechStart judge, is willingness to provide facility tours, internships, professional mentoring. (Case in point: CST has offered to host the students of each of the winning teacher’s STEM class, so they can see a working tech factory and learn about: how semiconductors are assembled into a circuit board using latest SMT technologies; how the circuit board assemblies are inspected with X-ray and optical technologies for defects, then assembled into complete boxes or protected with conformal coating for use in harsh environments. You can see how an earlier, Washingt0n-based STEM class tour unfolded at CST as described in my May 2, 2022 blog.)

All of these levels of the STEM ecosystem have a vital role to play if STEM initiatives are to take hold and create the sea change that is needed in the U.S. technology sector is to remain strong, competitive, innovative, and dynamic.

Let’s all identify and pick up our respective oars in the boat – and begin rowing!

–  Shantanu R. Gupta,
CEO, Cascade Systems Technology