GEORGE W. CHIU

Jan. 29, 1934 - Dec. 31, 2020

Resident of Palo Alto

On December 31, 2020, Palo Alto resident, George W. Chiu, passed away at the age of 86, due to Covid-19.

George graduated from Palo Alto High – class of 1953. He received his BS Chemical Engineering from San Jose State.

George Chiu’s 30 year career at Intel began shortly after its founding in 1968, when George left Fairchild Semiconductor to became the 39th employee of Intel.

George’s initial job was to establish a semiconductor package and assembly operation for Intel, which at that time had yet to produce its first integrated circuit device.

A year or so later, George had helped establish a group of technicians, operators, equipment and materials to package the first working devices when they were produced by Intel’s fledgling wafer fab and circuit design operations. This was a critical step to help Intel gain a foothold in the manufacturing and production of advanced MOS devices.

From that point on, George played an integral part in developing an ever expanding array of semiconductor package and assembly operations to meet the needs of both increasing complexity and lower cost package requirements as Intel grew from zero revenue in 1968 to an annual revenue of 6.1 billion dollars when he retired in late 1998.

Along this road, George introduced hermetic ceramic and low cost CerDIP packages with 14 to 18 leads (electrical connections) in the early years, culminating in the development of advanced materials and processes in support of Intel’s introduction of its  C4
(Controlled Collapse Chip Connection) process permitting devices with hundreds, and eventually thousands, of electrical connections, which represents the state of the art today, more than 20+ years past his retirement from Intel.

In the 1960s, he was a true hippie: going to rock concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium, camping in a custom van fashioned with ship’s portholes, and designing a Japanese tea garden house in his backyard. Truly a creative, handson, and curious individual interested in woodworking, making leather goods, and restoring scientific instruments/ antiques.

Married Florence, and raised two children, Jeff and Jennifer.

With Florence, he travelled the world, most notably the Silk Trade Route in China.

In his retirement years, he enjoyed trying new Chinese restaurants and serving his friends more servings of food than they could eat.

George was preceded in death by his wife, Florence (2011) and his son, Jeff (2001). He is survived by his daughter, Jennifer, son-in-law, Norman and two grandchildren: Jared and Monica.

A celebration of life will be planned when social gatherings can be safely held again. Donations in his honor can be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Stanford Children’s Hospital.

The editor of the Paly Class of 1953 Newsletter has reported that classmate George Chiu has died.

"GEORGE CHIU LEFT US TODAY (December 31, 2020). George attended Mayfield Elementary School, Jordan Junior High School and Palo Alto High School with us. At Paly, George was active as a Student Court Judge and served on the Brunch Committee, Traffic Control, and was a manger on our Track Team. After graduating from Paly he went on to graduate from San Jose State with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked mostly in semiconductor technology at Fairchild and Intel, and held five patents. He married, had two children, and enjoyed traveling and woodworking. He was a regular at our reunions (both mini and maxi), and was always cheerful and friendly. He will be missed!"