The Silicon Genesis Project is an on-going

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

project on the history of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and the semiconductor industry, conducted by volunteers and housed at the Stanford University Library.

History

The Silicon Genesis project was started and built upon the inspiration of Rob Walker (1935-2016). Rob was a Silicon Valley native and Silicon Valley educated electrical engineer, who was involved with the semiconductor industry since the 1960s at

Fairchild Fairchild may refer to: Organizations * Fairchild Aerial Surveys, operated in cooperation with a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation Company * Fairchild Camera and Instrument * List of Sherman Fairchild companies, "Fairchild" companies * Fairchild ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and as a founder of

LSI Logic LSI Logic Corporation was an American company founded in Santa Clara, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data ...

. He understood that if the stories of these pioneers were not captured for the benefit of future public access, they would be untold and lost forever. In 1995, Rob began a project with th
Silicon Valley Archives
in the

Stanford University Libraries The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. S ...

to record oral history interviews focused on the history of the semiconductor industry. The resulting video recordings and interview transcripts form the basis for the Silicon Genesis collection at Stanford, and available for researchers and others with an interest in this history.

Role of Stanford University

The Silicon Valley Archives in the

Stanford Libraries The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. S ...

provides access to several collections related to the Silicon Genesis oral histories. These include the Rob Walker Papers, the Silicon Destiny collection of oral history cassette tapes, videos, and transcripts assembled for Rob Walker's book Silicon Destiny, and the Silicon Genesis collection, which includes physical media for many of the interviews in the series featured in the exhibit.

The collection of interviews

Interviews

Subjects to be interviewed have been chosen based on their historic contributions to the semiconductor and related industries. Persons conducting the interviews are former executives of semiconductor companies and have expertise in the fields being discussed. These individuals have volunteered their time to identify persons of historic interest, scheduled and conducted interviews, assist with post-production, and review transcripts. Once posted, interviews are available as both streaming video files and lightly edited transcripts.

Interview format

Prior to 2020, most interviews were typically conducted one-on-one in an informal and comfortable setting, often the home of the interviewee. More recent interviews have been conducted on the

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

campus, often the

Green Library The Cecil H. Green Library (commonly known as Green Library) is the main library on the Stanford University campus and is part of the SUL system. It is named for Cecil H. Green. Green Library houses 4 million volumes, most of which are relat ...

. Interviews start with a bit of family and personal history, educational background, and then dive a range of relevant topics relating to the subject's historical contributions to the semiconductor or related industry.

Individual interviews

Group interviews

Panel and special interest videos

Highlighted collections

The

Stanford Library The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. S ...

highlights individual interviews that are grouped together according to an area of interest. As of January 2025, there were 18 featured collections from companies, venture capital and industry associations SEMI and the

Semiconductor Industry Association The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is a trade association and lobbying group founded in 1977 that represents the United States semiconductor industry. It is located in Washington, D.C. About The Semiconductor Industry Association (SI ...

References

{{improve categories, date=November 2023 Oral history Biographies about businesspeople Semiconductor companies Fairchild Corporation Intel Texas Instruments Motorola AMD AMD people People in technology