{"id":12385310,"date":"2025-12-27T18:20:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T02:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/?p=12385310"},"modified":"2025-12-27T23:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T07:39:10","slug":"filipino-engineer-and-entrepreneur-dies-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2025\/12\/27\/filipino-engineer-and-entrepreneur-dies-at-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Dado Banatao, Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, dies at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filipino tech entrepreneur Diosdado “Dado” Banatao died at the age of 79.<\/p>\n

Banatao is known for pioneering the technology<\/a> that made personal computers possible, thus putting Silicon Valley on the map<\/a>. He also co-founded three technology companies and started a nonprofit to help support Filipinos in STEM fields.<\/p>\n

“Rising from humble beginnings in Cagayan, he went on to co-found transformative technology companies and played a pivotal role in advancing the global semiconductor and graphics industries,” said the National Federation of Filipino American Associations on LinkedIn in honor of Banatao’s passing. “Just as importantly, he invested deeply in people opening doors, mentoring founders and strengthening communities.”<\/p>\n

According to a post on his website by his family<\/a>, Banatao passed away peacefully on Christmas Day, surrounded by family and friends. His family said he “succumbed to complications from a neurological disorder that hit him late in his life.” He would have been 80 in May.<\/p>\n

His family wrote, “We are mourning his loss, but take comfort from the time spent with him during this Christmas season, and that his fight with this disease is over.”<\/p>\n

Banatao was born to a rice farmer and housekeeper in Iguig, Cagayan, according to ABS-CBN<\/a>. According to his 2015 documentary<\/a>, he didn’t have access to electricity growing up and was taught math using bamboo sticks. He said it was typical for his classmates to stop going to school after sixth grade to help their parents work in the fields, but his father told him to continue studying.<\/p>\n

He developed a love for engineering and graduated with a degree in electric engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology, a private research university in Manila. He said in his documentary that there were no design jobs for engineers in the Philippines, so he moved to the U.S. and pursued a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University. He graduated in 1972.<\/p>\n

Soon after college, Banatao worked as a design engineering at Boeing. ABS-CBN reported that he then went on to work for other technology companies, like National Semiconductor and Intersil. While at Commodore International, he designed the first single chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator.<\/p>\n

He is credited with developing the first 10-Mbit ethernet CMOS chip in 1981 while working at Seeq Technology. He also developed the first system logic chipset for IBM’s PC-XT and PC-AT and one of the first graphics accelerators for personal computers. These inventions allowed for faster computer performance, according to Inquirer.net<\/a>. The Harvard Club of Southern California credited Banatao for bringing GPS technology to consumers.<\/p>\n

“Dado is the man who invented a graphical chipset that took us from black screens with green writing to the dynamic displays we have today,” the club wrote for a description of a lecture he gave in 2017 for the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County<\/a>.<\/p>\n