Artifact Details

Title

Benny Lau and Lee Lau oral history

Catalog Number

102792249

Type

Document

Description

Lee and Benny Lau (not related), co-founders of ATI Technologies sat for a joint oral history and described their early lives growing up in Hong Kong and both eventually emigrating to Toronto, Canada. They both attended the University of Toronto where they studied electrical engineering. Both were involved in local startups when they decided to join forces and start ATI Technologies in 1985, along with one other founder, KY Ho.
Their initial product was a graphics card for the IBM PC. One key to their success with this first product was the use of a gate array chip, allowing them to put more logic and features on the card than their competitors. The company grew rapidly as they worked feverishly to stay ahead of the competition. They were indeed quite successful at this, being essentially the last graphics company standing from those early years when there were over 50 competitors.
Both Lee and Benny left the company around 2000 when they felt they had contributed all they could and were not motivated by the incremental challenges each new year brought. The company was sold to AMD in 2006 and continues to set a leadership standard in the industry
They describe the punishing development schedules, constant paranoia of what their competitors might be up to, and their joy and satisfaction which came from building a company with such a long-lasting legacy. It’s a down-to-earth story of the highs and lows which come from building a high-tech startup.

Date

2021-07-13

Contributor

Fairbairn, Douglas, Interviewer

Lau, Benny, Interviewee

Lau, Lee, Interviewee

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Toronto, Canada

Extent

31 p.

Format

PDF

Subject

University of Toronto; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD); Array Technology; EGA; VGA; Nvidia; LSI Logic; California Devices; 8514 Adapter

Collection Title

CHM Oral History Collection

Credit