|
A silicon pioneer
|
11/07/2006
|
| |
When Wilf Corrigan stepped down as chairman of LSI Logic in May, he became the last of silicon’s pioneers to end day to day involvement with a leading player.
Along with the late Bob Noyce from Intel, AMD’s Jerry Sanders and National Semiconductor’s Charlie Sporck, Corrigan set up the Semiconductor Industry Association whilst ceo of Fairchild Camera and Instrument (at a conspicuously youthful 30 years old). Before that, at Motorola, he was central to bringing epitaxy technology to bear on silicon transistors. And from 1981 onwards, at LSI, he’s widely credited with creating and refining the asic business – although he takes a slightly different view (see box).
Corrigan has often been seen as the ‘Brit’ amongst the colonials. He may have taken US citizenship, but, in some quarters, will always be the Liverpudlian and Imperial College graduate who went west in 1960 and showed ‘them’ that ‘we’ are pretty smart too.
Corrigan does not sound entirely disappointed to be out of the high profile end of the business. The heady atmosphere of those pioneer days has inevitably given way to a more traditional corporate one.
“Particularly because of Sarbanes-Oxley [the US legislation on corporate accounting and reporting practices], directors now spend a lot of time in public company board meetings talking about stuff that’s got less and less interesting to me because it’s less and less about the actual running of the company,” Corrigan says.
“I’m more interested in private companies. There, you can own a significant chunk [through a VC investment] and not have all those things dominating the discussion.”
|
| |
Author
Paul Dempsey
|
| |
| |
|
This material is protected by Findlay Publications copyright 2008.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
|
| |
|
| Email this article |
| |
|
|
|
|