If the semiconductor industry [had] a
million-transistor technology like VLSI, I’m not so sure it would know
what to do with it.
- January 1979, Gordon Moore’s
Keynote Address, First VLSI Conference
The first
VLSI conference was held here in Los Angeles.The keynote address was given by two men, who you might have heard
of:Gordon Moore--who led Intel and
Carver Mead a Caltech professor who authored the first textbook on VLSI.Moore had what seems like a bit of a Bill
Gates moment, but there was something more salient than just whether the
market would need VLSI--it was a concern about whether VLSI was even
feasible.