In partial fulfillment the requirements to

ENTR 122 ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Submitted by:

Mendoza, Melvin C.

ABM 122-A

Submitted to:

RoseMarie S. de Vera

Insructor

PROFILE OF ENTREPRENEUR
 DIOSDADO BANATAO
COMPUTER CHIPS

Silicon Valley has long been synonymous with the latest in tech innovations, and one of
its best minds is a Filipino: Diosdado “Dado” Banatao.

The tech world has him to thank for two things that can be found in every personal
computer (PC) you see today: the PC chip set and the Windows Graphics accelerator chip for
PCs. But the man who would design what we see in every single PC did not start the way you
would imagine.
 Humble beginnings

BANATAO AS A KID. Diosdado “Dado” Banatao was born to a rice farmer in the small
town of Iguig, Cagayan Valley./IMAGE ABS-CBN

It sounds cliché, but Diosdado “Dado” Banatao had the humblest of beginnings that lead
him to where he is now. Born and raised in Iguig, Cagayan Valley, he grew up not having access
to what people usually take for granted: electricity, internet, and paved roads.

He often felt like he was inferior, which instilled a desire to work harder than everyone
else. He eventually graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Mapua Institute
of Technology, but he did not get his start in tech until much later.

Awkward (?) career path

FROM AIRLINES TO COMPUTERS. Dado had wanted to be a pilot, but found joy in
computers./IMAGE The Standard

Dado always wanted to be a pilot as a kid, so when Philippine Airlines said “We’re
looking for pilot trainees,” he jumped at the chance. One year into his pilot training, he was
offered a job at Boeing as a part of the team working on the 747.

At Boeing, he was part of the team that finalized the design and control surfaces (to name
a few) of the Boeing 747. While he was excited during the launch of the 747, he wasn’t “happy”
with his job at Boeing, prompting him to attend graduate school.

It was only after he completed his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science at Stanford University that he started his path towards Silicon Valley.

Claim to Fame

After spending time at Silicon Valley in the 70s (when it wasn’t called Silicon Valley
yet), he had his first breakthrough with Commodore International after he developed the first
single-chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator.

POWERED BY BANATAO. He may not like the description, but it’s no secret that he
and his company, Chips and Technologies, gave birth to the world’s first system logic chip
sets./IMAGE Ruben de Rijcke and MBlairMartin via Wikimedia

After Commodore, he then developed what would be his claim to fame: the world’s first
system logic chip set for IBM’s PC-XT and PC-AT. He would later on develop the first
Windows Graphics accelerator chip for personal computers, which would forever cement his
name in the world of PCs.
 He would later be involved in three start-ups, two of which would be forces to be
reckoned with in the early 90s: Mostron, S3 (most profitable company in the world in 1993), and
Chips & Technologies (sold to Intel in 1996).

Dado Banatao Today

Today, Dado Banatao is the managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture
firm focused on semiconductor technology solutions for computing, communication, and
consumer platforms. He’s also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Inphi, a company that
specializes in advanced semiconductor and Silicon photonics solutions.

Seeing what education has done for him, he founded the Philippine Development
Foundation (PhilDev), a nonprofit organization that looks to eradicate poverty through
education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

He also runs the Dado Banatao Educational Foundation, a foundation that awards
scholarship grants to five Filipino students who show potential in the fields of engineering and
technology.

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Diosdado P. Banatao (born May 26, 1946 in the small barrio of Malabbac in the town of Iguig,
Cagayan, Philippines) is a Filipino-American entrepreneur and engineer working in the high-tech
industry,[2] credited with having developed the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon
coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip, the first system logic chip set for IBM's PC-XT
and the PC-AT, and the local bus concept and the first Windows Graphics accelerator chip for
personal computers.[3] A three-time start-up veteran, he co-founded Mostron, Chips and
Technologies, and S3 Graphics.[4]

Contents
1 Background
2 Career
2.1 Business
2.2 Philanthropy
3 Recognition
4 References
Background[edit]
Banatao was born on May 26, 1946 in Malabbac, Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines. His father,
Salvador Banatao, was a rice farmer. His mother, Rosita Banatao, was a housekeeper.[2]
Banatao is known for his rags to riches story. During his childhood, he walked barefoot on a dirt
road just to reach Malabbac Elementary School. He pursued his secondary education at the
Jesuit-run Ateneo de Tuguegarao. After high school, he pursued his Bachelor of Science in
Electric Engineering from the Mapúa Institute of Technology and graduated cum laude.[5][6]
After college, he turned down several job offers, including one from Meralco. He joined
Philippine Airlines as a trainee pilot, and was later pirated by Boeing. At Boeing, he worked as a
design engineer for the company's new commercial airliner and cargo transport aircraft, Boeing
747, in the United States. With the opportunity to stay in the United States, he then took his
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University and
finished in 1972.[2][7] Banatao also joined the Homebrew Computer Club, where he met Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak.[8]
After finishing his master's degree, Banatao worked with different technology companies such as
the National Semiconductor, Intersil, and Commodore International where he designed the first
single chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator.[2] In 1981, he developed the first 10-Mbit
Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip while working in
Seeq Technology. He was also credited for the first system logic chip set for IBM's PC-XT and
the PC-AT; the local bus concept and the first Windows Graphics accelerator chip for personal
computers.[3]
Career
Business
In 1984, Banatao and his business partner Francis Siu, founded a high-technology company,
Mostron, starting with a capital of half a million US dollars. Mostron was launched as a
manufacturer of motherboards. They also hired Ron Yara of Intel as a company executive. After
he developed a five-chip set, he co-founded Chips and Technologies in 1985. The company
developed system logic chip set for IBM's PC-XT and the PC-AT. The company earned $12
million in its first four months. After 22 months, the company went public. In 1989, Banatao
launched his third start-up company, S3 Graphics, with Yara in Santa Clara, California. S3
focused on enhancing the graphic capabilities in personal computers by using a graphic
accelerator chip. The key to this was, Banatao's invention of a local bus. The company had an
initial public offering of $30 million. In 1996, the company became the leader of the graphic-
chips market, beating a strong competitor, Cirrus Logic, Inc.. In the same year, Chips &
Technologies was sold to Intel for about $300 million.[9] In 2000, he decided to start-up his own
venture capital firm named Tallwood Venture Capital with a capital of US$300 million, all of
which came from his own pocket. He later sold another company for more than $1 billion, where
it had less than 20 employees.[10] Dado was also part of SiRF, where it started the
consumerization of GPS after it had been declassified by the US Government.
In 2010, Banatao became Ikanos Communications' CEO after Michael Gulett resigned as the
company's CEO and President.
Philanthropy
In the Philippines, Banatao through his Dado Banatao Educational Foundation, annually awards
five educational scholarships to intelligent Filipino students who have bright futures in the field
of engineering and technology.[12] Also, with Philippine Development Foundation which he
chairs, he is helping send brilliant young Filipinos to school to help them reach their full
potential. PhilDev was spun off from Ayala Foundation's program. [13] Through his Banatao
Filipino American Fund, he assists Northern California high school students of Filipino heritage
who are pursuing a college education in engineering. He also built a computer center at his grade
school in his childhood town of Iguig in Cagayan Valley, making it the only public school with
the most modern computer network in the Philippines.