Marvell Technology's billionaire co-founder, Sehat Sutardja, has died

By Louis Goss

Sehat Sutardja, the chip industry pioneer who is best known for co-founding Marvell Technology, has died aged 63 years old, according to a statement from a company where he serves on the board.

The billionaire, who was born and raised in Jakarta, started Marvell Technology with his brother Pantas Sutardja and wife, Weili Dai, in 1995 before leading it to become one of the world's largest chipmakers.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Alphawave Semi (UK:AWE) - the London listed chipmaker Sutardja joined in 2019 - said the former Marvell Technology CEO had passed away and that his wife would be taking over his position as an interim executive director.

"Dr. Sutardja was one of the pioneers of the modern semiconductor industry and a strong supporter of Alphawave Semi. His loss will be felt globally across his entire portfolio of technology companies and philanthropic endeavours," Alphawave Semi said in a statement.

Forbes' most recent estimate of his net worth was $1.3 billion.

Sutardja's death follows his exit from Marvell Technology (MRVL) in 2016 after he was cleared of defrauding the company he had run for two decades. He later founded Singapore headquartered chipmaker Silicon Box in 2021.

The semiconductor industry visionary who was born to Chinese parents in Indonesia in 1961 had first become interested in electronics while at school before moving to the U.S. in 1980 to start an undergraduate degree at the University of San Francisco.

Sutardja subsequently switched his studies over to the Iowa State after discovering the University of San Francisco didn't even run an electrical engineering program.

Together Sutardja, his wife and his brother decided to name their new startup Marvell because they planned to do marvelous things and had noticed that many successful chipmakers, like Intel and Nortel, had names ending with the '-el' suffix, according to one profile.

Marvell Technology quickly grew to become a major player in the fast growing chip sector on the back of the fast-paced growth of the internet. The semiconductor company later launched a successful initial public offering on the Nasdaq in June 2000.

Marvell Technology was contacted by MarketWatch for comment.

-Louis Goss

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09-18-24 0454ET

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