Levy, Ken (Kenneth) oral history
Ken Levy was the founder and CEO of KLA, a leading manufacturer of semiconductor processing equipment. In this oral history, he describes his early years growing up in New York City in a very poor family. He talks about the early influencers in his life, including important teachers, etc. He spent time at Singer Link, where he gained experience in flight simulators, and then joined some former Singer Link employees at Computervision, an early CAD (computer aided design) company. He made the jump to the semiconductor equipment business when CV bought an invention to do photomask alignment on silicon wafers. Ken’s responsibility was to take that invention to market and make it a business success Although successful, CV decided to exit the semiconductor equipment business. Ken, wanting to stay in that field, subsequently left CV and formed his own company, KLA in 1976. Ken has spent over 30 years in the semiconductor industry, and remains active as a board member, mentor, and investor.
Item Details
- Date
- 2010-09-16 (Made)
- Type
- Document
- Catalogue number
- 102743016
- Organization
- Computer History Museum
- People
- Kenneth Levy (Interviewee)
Ken Gruca (Videographer)
Stanley T. Myers (Interviewer) - Category
- Transcript
- Extent
- 13 p.
- Place of publication
- North America/USA/CA/Mountain View
- Language
- English
- Acquisition number
- X5946.2011
- Subject
- Semiconductor History
- Archive collection
- CHM Oral History Collection
- Archive hierarchy
- CHM Oral History Collection