Oregon’s Fairchild Moment
July 2026
Deepthi Madhava
Before there was Intel, there was Fairchild Semiconductor.
Today, Fairchild is less known for inventing the planar manufacturing process and the first integrated circuit and better known for the talent it attracted, developed, and graduated. As the company matured, its engineers went on to found other seminal companies, such as Intel, AMD, and dozens of others that ultimately shaped Silicon Valley. Fairchild became the launchpad for an ecosystem much larger than itself.
Reading Business Oregon's recent semiconductor strategy report, I couldn't help but think about that history.
One of the report's central messages is that Oregon's future shouldn't depend solely on attracting the next mega fab. Instead, the opportunity is to build a broader semiconductor ecosystem, one that spans chip design, advanced packaging, photonics, equipment, and materials.
To a large degree, this is starting to happen.
Over the past two years, the Oregon Venture Fund has invested in a new generation of local semiconductor companies, where the founders and employees trace back to Intel and its peers.
Ahead Computing is designing next-generation RISC-V processors for AI infrastructure. aheadcomputing.com.
Mueon is reimagining advanced packaging and chiplet architectures, an area becoming increasingly critical as Moore's Law gives way to system-level innovation. mueon.com.
NLM Photonics is developing optical interconnect technology that enables AI systems to move data faster and more efficiently. nlmphotonics.com
These companies are tackling some of the industry’s most challenging and valuable problems, including how to get greater performance out of AI data centers while consuming much less power and cost.
What makes this particularly exciting is that each has deep roots in Oregon's semiconductor ecosystem. They're drawing on decades of engineering talent, manufacturing expertise, supplier relationships, and technical know-how that have been built here over generations.
The Fairchild analogy isn't perfect. Fairchild produced dozens of companies over several decades, and Oregon is still early in that journey. And Intel, fresh off a $5B investment and strategic partnership with Nvidia, appears alive and well, with its stock up 5X over the past year.
While we need Intel to continue to succeed, we also need to ensure the conditions are in place for alumni of Intel and its ecosystem partners to start and grow new businesses here. Ahead Computing, Mueon, NLM Photonics, and others represent the beginning of a new chapter for our Silicon Forest, one where Oregon's strength comes not from one single anchor company, but from a growing network of specialized semiconductor innovators.
That's exactly the kind of ecosystem Business Oregon's report argues we should be building. And it's one that founders, investors, universities, and established companies all have a role in shaping.