Diosdado ‘Dado’ Banatao, a key determine within the semiconductor revolution, leaves behind a legacy of innovation and dedication to uplifting Filipino expertise
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino know-how pioneer Diosdado “Dado” Banatao died on Christmas Day, December 25, his son Rey confirmed in a Fb publish on Friday, December 26.
He was 79.
Rey Banatao stated the Silicon Valley engineer and entrepreneur “handed peacefully…surrounded by household and pals.” He was 5 months shy of his eightieth birthday and died resulting from “issues from a neurological dysfunction” that emerged later in his life.
“We’re mourning his loss, however take consolation from the time spent with him throughout this Christmas season, and that his struggle with this illness is over,” the household stated, including that particulars of a celebration of Banatao’s life shall be shared within the coming weeks.
Banatao’s passing was earlier publicly acknowledged by former Division of Finance secretary Cesar Purisima, who described him as “an excellent engineer, visionary tech entrepreneur, and a real satisfaction of the Philippines,” and emphasised that his best legacy went past know-how and into his perception in Filipino expertise.
Banatao was born on Might 23, 1946, within the municipality of Iguig in Cagayan province, to a farmer and a housekeeper. He usually spoke of rising up poor in a farming city, strolling barefoot to high school and seeing schooling as his manner ahead.
He graduated cum laude in electrical engineering from Mapúa Institute of Expertise, and obtained his masters from Stanford College earlier than constructing a profession in the US that positioned him within the coronary heart of the semiconductor and private computing revolution.
Banatao was among the many engineers whose work helped make computer systems smaller, cheaper, and commercially viable.
Over his profession, he contributed to main advances in semiconductors, networking, and graphics, together with early Ethernet-related chips, PC system logic, and graphics acceleration applied sciences that turned foundational to fashionable computing.
He went on to co-found a number of influential Silicon Valley corporations, together with Mostron, Chips & Applied sciences, and S3 Graphics — whose improvements, to place it merely, made computer systems extra inexpensive and simpler to make use of, accelerating adoption.
His work at S3 Graphics was a serious affect on the event of PC graphics {hardware} that emerged within the early ‘90s. The corporate was the third most worthwhile tech firm in 1993.
He’s credited for key improvements together with the primary single-chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator; first enhanced graphics adapter chip set; pioneered native bus idea for PC; and the primary Home windows graphics accelerator chip.
In a 2013 Rappler article, Banatao stated he didn’t take into account himself an inventor however fairly an innovator. “Innovation is extra vital as a result of innovation implies you might be placing collectively an entire bunch of different components past that one invention. Innovation implies trade,” he stated.
That mindset, amongst different causes, is maybe why colleagues and profiles usually in contrast Banatao’s affect to that of Silicon Valley’s most well-known names resembling Invoice Gates or Steve Jobs. He had a mindset that mixed engineering, techniques considering, and market realities to construct merchandise that truly shipped and scaled.
That philosophy formed his demanding work ethic. In a 2016 Medium interview, Banatao described pushing groups by way of lengthy hours when deadlines have been tight, insisting that leaders keep alongside their engineers fairly than handle from a distance.
In that interview, he stated: “Because the founder, I am going round and nonetheless handle the corporate and inform the engineers, ‘Thanks for working laborious, however are you able to doing this?’ ‘Sure, I feel I can.’ ‘What do you imply I feel? This reply of ‘I feel’ doesn’t work. You higher make sure as a result of we now have a schedule to satisfy.’ The proportion of success may be very excessive consequently. As a CEO, inform them you’ll be there with them. That’s what builds the Valley.”
Later, Banatao transitioned into enterprise capital as a founding associate of Tallwood Enterprise Capital in 2000.
In 2011, Dado and his spouse Maria established the Philippine Improvement Basis (PhilDev) and the Dado Banatao Instructional Basis, which help science, know-how, engineering, and arithmetic or STEM schooling, and scholarships for Filipino college students and entrepreneurs.
Banatao had been outspoken in regards to the Philippines’ know-how hole. In a 2015 interview, he stated that many native IT packages have been lower than international requirements, arguing that the nation wanted deeper engineering and innovation capabilities — not simply know-how customers, however know-how builders. And thru PhilDev, he sought to deal with that hole by creating entry to world-class schooling and mentorship.
“I wish to see the Philippine tech trade thrive earlier than I die. That’s what we’re doing with PhilDev,” he as soon as stated.
The Silicon Valley pioneer additionally established the Asian Institute of Administration–Dado Banatao Incubator in 2017, and funded the Middle for Data Expertise Analysis within the Curiosity of Society and the Banatao Institute on the College of California, Berkeley, wrote Newsbytes.
Banatao is survived by his spouse Maria and their three kids, Rey, Desi, and Tala.
His household invitations the general public to share recollections and messages by way of a memorial web site devoted in his honor.
From rural Cagayan to Silicon Valley, Banatao’s life traced a path of persistence, rigor, and perception in folks — an affect that continues by way of the applied sciences he helped form and the generations he labored to uplift. – Rappler.com
