Stan Mazor: Reflections on Gordon Moore, Fairchild, and Intel

Tue, May 2 2023, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm PDT              Stan Mazor: Reflections on Gordon Moore, Fairchild, and Intel 1 Stan Mazor: Reflections on Gordon Moore, Fairchild, and Intel 2


This event will be available live at SEMI, as well as over Zoom.

This event will be a conversation with Stan Mazor as led by Brian Berg. Stan will reflect on his years at Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel under Gordon Moore, Moore’s impact on these companies and the industry itself, and how Moore’s Law figured into Stan’s work. Included will be reflections on Mazor’s role in development of Fairchild’s Symbol high-level language for the Symbol computer. This machine was unique in many ways, and its implementation of virtual memory led to an early patent for Stan and two others on his team.

Included in the stories will be Stan’s role in development of Intel’s 4004, the first commercially-available single-chip microprocessor, as well as the 8008 and the very successful 8080. Mazor’s subsequent work as an early employee of Silicon Compiler Systems and Synopsys will round out the stories as they added to his perspective on the impact of Moore’s Law over the years.


Stan Mazor: Reflections on Gordon Moore, Fairchild, and Intel 4About the speaker,  Stan Mazor

Stan Mazor joined Fairchild Semiconductor in 1964, where he was a programmer and computer designer. As a member of Gordon Moore’s R&D team, he helped specify and implement the Symbol computer, as well as its Symbol high-level language which the computer could directly execute.

Stan joined Intel in 1969 shortly after its founding by Moore and Robert Noyce. He worked under Marcian “Ted” Hoff on the Busicom calculator‘s instruction set and architectural specifications. Along with efforts by Masatoshi Shima and groundbreaking silicon-gate MOS hardware design by Federico Faggin, this work led to creation of the single-chip 4004 in 1971. Mazor wrote software for the 4004, proposed the first 8-bit microprocessor (the 8008), and was co-developer of Intel’s popular 8080 microprocessor. He went on to work in Intel’s Brussels office as a field applications engineer.

During the 1980s, Mazor was an early employee at both Silicon Compiler Systems and Synopsys. He has lectured at universities around the world, including Stanford Univ. and the Univ. of Santa Clara. He shares the 1997 Kyoto Prize with Shima, Hoff, and Faggin. Like Hoff and Faggin, he is a 1996 National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee and 2009 Computer History Museum Fellow, and a recipient of the 2000 Robert N. Noyce Award and the 2009 US National Medal of Technology and Innovation.


Stan Mazor: Reflections on Gordon Moore, Fairchild, and Intel 5About the speaker, Brian Berg of Berg Software Design

Brian Berg is an independent consultant specializing in data storage, including flash memory. He is Technical Chair of Flash Memory Summit, and an active IEEE volunteer including as Director and past Chair of IEEE-CNSV. He is also IEEE Region 6 History Chair, and a member of the IEEE History Committee.

Brian has been involved with over two dozen IEEE Milestones since 2010, including as a proposer, Advocate, and dedication event MC. He initiated the installation of duplicate Milestone plaques on the front courtyard wall of the Computer History Museum, where 16 bronze plaques now reside. He recently served as MC for the dedication of an IEEE Milestone for the Development of Computer Graphics and Visualization Techniques at the University of Utah.

Brian first met Stan Mazor while serving on the Organizing Committee of the annual Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop. He worked with Stan as well as Federico Faggin and Ted Hoff on an IEEE Milestone for the Intel 4004 Microprocessor.


Location: SEMI, Milpitas, CA

567 Yosemite Dr, Milpitas, CA 95035
View Map & Directions