Sit down with Federico Faggin: Part 3, Federico in Silicon Valley
Channel: STMicroelectronics
Date: 24/06/2021

Very few can reasonably claim to have shaped the semiconductor industry, and Federico Faggin is one of them. On May 27th, 2021, ST Santa Clara and Regional VP Paul Cihak hosted Federico Faggin to share stories from his new book, “Silicon,” and help us better understand what he calls his four lives.

Federico, who worked briefly for SGS-Fairchild in Agrate, is recognized for inventing the semiconductor process for self-aligned silicon gate transistors ICs and for inventing buried-contacts about 16 years earlier, after moving over to Fairchild, in the US. After Fairchild, Federico moved to Intel where he invented the microprocessor (the 4004, a 4-bit MPU). He left Intel to start Zilog, where he conceived and designed the Z80 family.

Guided by Paul Cihak’s questions, Federico told parts of his story, and its four lives: from his childhood and growing up in Italy; his career as an engineer and technical pioneer; his executive career; and now, applying his genius to discover insights into consciousness.