Gordon Moore net worth: Fortune explored as Intel co-founder passes away at 94

American businessman Gordon Moore, who co-founded the semiconductor corporation Intel, passed away at the age of 94 in Hawaii on March 24. The news was announced by his company, which added that Moore was surrounded by his family in his final moments.

Moore, along with Andrew Grove and Robert Noyce, was an engineer who helped found Intel in 1968. "Intel Inside" processors are now present in over 80 percent of the world's personal computers.

Moore noted in a 1965 article that, due to technological advances, the number of transistors on microchips has increased approximately every year since integrated circuits were created a few years ago. "Moore's law" became the foundation of the computer processor industry and had an impact on the PC revolution. As per the New York Post, he wrote:

“Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers – or at least terminals connected to a central computer – automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment.”

After Moore's article got traction, chips got better and cheaper at an exponential rate. This helped drive most of the world's technological progress for the next 50 years and made it possible for personal computers, the internet, and Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google to come into existence.

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Gordon Moore's net worth is in the billions

Born on January 3, 1929, Gordon Moore was a native of San Francisco, California, U.S. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Moore's net worth was $7.1 billion.

The deceased engineer completed his education at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a degree in chemistry. He later earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology.

Before establishing Intel Corporation with Robert Noyce in 1968, he worked at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.

While speaking in an interview in 2005, Gordon Moore shared his thoughts about his prediction being right about technology.

“It sure is nice to be at the right place at the right time. I was very fortunate to get into the semiconductor industry in its infancy. And I had an opportunity to grow from the time where we couldn’t make a single silicon transistor to the time where we put 1.7 billion of them on one chip! It’s been a phenomenal ride.”

Although he and CEO Noyce saw themselves as peers, the former served as executive vice president until 1975. Moore was named chairman and chief executive officer in April 1979 and held that position until April 1987, when he became chairman. He was named chairman emeritus in 1997.

Aside from technology, Gordon Moore was very active in philanthropy. He was an avid sports fisherman who pursued his hobby all over the world. In 2000, he and his wife, Betty, established a foundation devoted to environmental causes, known as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Moore's donation of approximately $5 billion in Intel stock financed the foundation, whose initiatives included the protection of the Amazon River basin and salmon tributaries in the United States, Canada, and Russia.

He also contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to his college, the California Institute of Technology, to keep it as the leader in technology and research, and he supported the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) initiative.

Gordon Moore was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the country's highest citizen honor, by President George W. Bush in 2002. He is survived by his wife, Betty, and two sons, Kenneth and Steven Moore.