How did a native of Iguig Cagayan become “The Bill Gates of the Philippines”

While Bill Gates having his name etched in history as a co-founder of one of the most biggest corporations in the world which is the Microsoft Corporation, A humble Filipino Engineer native in Iguig, Cagayan stormed the same industry by pioneering and inventing the world’s first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transceiver chip, which is the first system logic chip set for IBM’s PC-XT and PC-AT desktop computers and the first graphics accelerator chip for Windows-based personal computers. He is Diosdado “Dado” Banatao who has a staggering net worth of 74 million US Dollars as of 2019.

The Inventions:

His invention of the 16bit microchip helped paved way for the development of computers to work faster prior to those early units that required numerous chips to seamlessly function. Moreover, according to ABS-CBN, his 16bit microchip allowed computer designs to be simplified with fewer chips (originally from 150 then 5 after his invention), that has made computers smaller, more portable and more affordable.

In relation to this, he also pioneered the development of graphics accelerator chip that sped up the computer graphics via the first Windows Graphics accelerator chip for the PC. His company, Chips and Technologies, was later then sold to the semiconductor giant, Intel for a staggering 430 million US dollars.

Moreover, his 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transceiver chip is designed for desktop PCs, laptops, set-top boxes that drops power consumption to less than 300 mW.

The person:

A native at Malabbac Iguig in Cagayan Valley, Banatao grew as one of four children of Salvador Banatao, a farmer and Rosita Banatao, a housekeeper. He went to Ateneo de Tuguegarao, now University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao for his secondary education while he took up a degree in Electrical Engineering earning Cum laude in his tertiary in Mapua Institute of Technology.

While envisioning for more prospects and opportunities, he turned down national job offers including MERALCO which later proceeded on keeping a position in Philippine Airlines. He was later hired then by Boeing, an American corporation that projects, creates, and sells airplanes as a design engineer. He therefore used this opportunity to further hone his skills by finishing his studies of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University in 1972.

After his educational endeavours, he earned experiences on numerous technological companies and that started his excellent entrepreneurship.

The Venture into Business:

Banatao started his way on business by co-founding Mostron, a motherboard manufacturing company in 1984. Years later, he began founding Chips and Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company in 1985 after Mostron failed in endeavour. Moreover, he innovated proceeded for more opportunities by founding S3, a technology company that provides software products to operators, OEM’s, semiconductors and healthcare providers in 1989.

He then continued in the field until he became CEO of Ikanos Communications’ which is a provider of semiconductor and software products for use in homes after Michael Gulett resigned as the company’s CEO and President.

Dado Banatao at Present

Today, he is the managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture firm focused on semiconductor technology solutions for computing, communication, and consumer platforms. Also to add, Banatao has been the Chairman Emeritus of Inphi Corp which specializes in data movement interconnects. He also awards annually deserving students in the field of Engineering and technology educational scholarships in Dado Banatao Educational Foundation. With this Philanthropic efforts, he was regarded as the Bill Gates of the Philippines.

A living embodiment of from rags to riches, Banatao is the proof that success is earned by hard work and toils that can be realized which should be inculcated to every minds if every Filipino dreamer out there pursuing what really is the best to aspire for. #CetaceoSarilingAtin

Story by Benjamin Terrence Aggabao