A Recent History of Silicon Valley Technologies and Companies

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Professor John Hennessy, past President of Stanford University (2000-2016) and Chairman of Alphabet Inc. will be in conversation with Alan J Weissberger of the IEEE Silicon Valley Technology History Committee about the history of technologies and companies in Silicon Valley since the late 1970s. 

 

They will be joined on stage by IEEE past President Tom Coughlin to discuss recent IEEE accomplishments, current focus areas and suggestions on how to strengthen the world’s largest technology non-profit organization.

 

Our conversation will cover the evolution of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) and its applications in smart phones, tablets and other devices. We will discuss the evolution of GPUs, the computational demands of machine learning, and the emergence of domain-specific architectures (DSAs).

 

We will also discuss the founding of Atheros Communications (acquired by Qualcomm in 2011) and its development of chipsets for WiFi, Bluetooth and other OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) technologies. 

 

Finally, we will turn to Google’s history, particularly its research activities. As a Google Board member for more than two decades, Prof. Hennessy has played a role in helping develop Google's strategic direction.  With the current pervasiveness of AI, what does that hold for the future of science, technology and higher education?


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  • 500 El Camino Real
  • Santa Clara, California
  • United States 95053
  • Building: Locatelli Student Activity Center
  • Click here for Map
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  • Co-sponsored by IEEE Communications Society, SCV chapter (ComSoc SCV) , Santa Clara University IEEE Student Chapter
  • Starts 18 August 2025 07:00 PM UTC
  • Ends 08 October 2025 07:00 AM UTC
  • No Admission Charge

  Speakers

John

Biography:

Image of John Hennessy

An IEEE Life Fellow, Professor Hennessy was a RISC pioneer and the co-founder of MIPS Technologies as well as Atheros Communications. He has been on Google’s Board of Directors since 2004 (a 2015 restructuring created Alphabet as the parent company of Google) and has been the Chairman of Alphabet since February, 2018.  In 2012, John was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor - the Institute’s highest award.

Alan

Biography:

Image of Alan Weissenberger Alan J Weissberger, ScD, is the founder, past Chairman and current member of the IEEE Silicon Valley Technology History committee.   He is an IEEE Senior Life Member who was an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University EE Department and is currently a Research Affiliate at its School of Engineering. 


Tom

Biography:

Image of Tom Coughlin Tom Coughlin, recent President of the IEEE, is a digital storage analyst and business and technology consultant. He has more than 40 year's experience in data storage industry and technology with senior management positions at several Silicon Valley companies. As Coughlin Associates he consults and publishes books and market and technology reports.




Agenda

5:00 - 5:25 pm Registration and Networking
5:25 - 5:30 pm Intro by Tom Coughlin about IEEE and its SV Tech History Committee
5:30 - 6:15 pm Conversation 
6:15 - 6:55 pm Audience Q & A
6:55 - 7:00 pm Closing Remarks