Robert Noyce: Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel
Business Owner · Semiconductors
Robert Noyce, the 'Mayor of Silicon Valley', co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and is credited with the first silicon monolithic integrated circuit.
About Robert Noyce: Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel
Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 to June 3, 1990), nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. He was credited with the realization of the first monolithic integrated circuit, or microchip, made with silicon, which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name. Noyce founded the Noyce School of Applied Computing within the College of Engineering at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Technology, in 1989 he was inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame, and in 1990 he received a Lifetime Achievement Medal alongside Jack Kilby and John Bardeen during the bicentennial celebration of the Patent Act. He was born in Burlington, Iowa, the third of four sons of the Rev. Ralph Brewster Noyce, who graduated from Doane College, Oberlin College and the Chicago Theological Seminary and was also nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship. His mother, Harriet May Norton, was the daughter of the Rev. Milton J. Norton, a Congregational clergyman. Sources: English Wikipedia (Robert Noyce, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Co-founder, Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel; "the Mayor of Silicon Valley" (1927-1990)
Company Details
Fairchild Semiconductor / Intel
Semiconductors, Integrated Circuits