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| Diosdado Banatao, 1946- 2025 |
The tech world lost a titan on Christmas Day 2025. Diosdado “Dado” Banatao, passed away at the Stanford Medical Center. Banatao, often called the “Bill Gates of the Philippines,” passed away at 79, leaving behind a legacy that proves the American Dream is alive, well, and powered by silicon.
"He was 5 months shy of his 80th birthday, and ultimately succumbed to complications from a neurological disorder that hit him late in his life," writes his family on a website dedicated to the Silicon Valley giant.
"We are mourning his loss, but take comfort from the time spent with him during this Christmas season, and that his fight with this disease is over. We thank everyone for all the messages of support and prayers during this time."
Like many of Silicon Valley's pioneers, Dado Banatao was an immigrant. His story is the ultimate counter-narrative to the "model minority" myth — it’s a story of raw grit. Born in the rural barrio of Malabbac in Cagayan, Dado grew up the son of a rice farmer and a housekeeper. He famously walked barefoot to school on dirt roads, a far cry from the sleek hallways of Stanford where he would later earn his Master’s in Electrical Engineering.
Silicon Valley pioneer
After graduating cum laude from Mapúa University in the Philippines, he headed to the United States, initially working as a design engineer for Boeing before landing in the heart of the tech revolution.
In the 1980s, personal computing was clunky and expensive. Banatao changed that by thinking smaller. He developed the first system logic chipsets for the IBM PC-XT and PC-AT. He managed to condense 19 separate chips into just a handful, effectively breaking IBM’s stranglehold on the market and allowing more affordable "clones" to flourish.
If you like your high-res graphics, thank Dado. He invented the first Windows Graphics Accelerator chip, moving us away from boring text-based screens into the vibrant, GUI-driven world we live in today.
He also pioneered the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS chip, the foundation for how we connect devices to this day.
He wasn't just an engineer; he was a serial entrepreneur, founding Chips and Technologies (sold to Intel for a cool $300 million) and S3 Graphics. Later, through Tallwood Venture Capital, he became a kingmaker for the next generation of deep-tech startups.
Rooted in the Philippines
Despite his massive wealth, Banatao never forgot the dirt roads of Cagayan, Philippines, where he was raised by his father, a farmer, and his mother, a housekeeper.
In his speeches, he often told Filipino students, "My story could be your story." He became the patron saint of Filipino innovation. Through the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), he spent his later years obsessed with one goal: eradicating poverty in the Philippines through STEM education and entrepreneurship.
He didn't just give handouts; he built infrastructure. From the AIM-Dado Banatao Incubator in Makati to countless scholarships for aspiring engineers, he wanted to ensure that the next "Dado" wouldn't have to walk barefoot to find a future.
Dado Banatao showed the world that a kid from a small Philippine village could not only participate in the tech revolution — he could lead it. As we look at the landscape of 2025, his blueprint for success remains the gold standard for Filipino Americans and immigrants everywhere.
Philanthropic contributions
Although he didn't attent University of California, Berkeley, his wife and three children are alumni of that famous institution. UC Berkeley named a research center (the Banatao Institute at CITRIS) and a global outreach center (the Dado and Maria Banatao Center for GLOBE) after Dado Banatao and his wife, Maria, in recognition of their significant philanthropic contributions and ongoing leadership.
Before it became trendy to be a billionaire philanthropist, alongside his wife, the Banataos were doing what they could to make this a better world and provide opportunities for new entrepreneurs and innovators.
Dado and Maria Banatao were early and foundational supporters of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). In recognition of this, the center was renamed the Banatao Institute at CITRIS in 2016.
They founded the Dado and Maria Banatao Center for Global Learning and Outreach from Berkeley Engineering (GLOBE) in 2005. The center's mission is to expand Berkeley Engineering's international partnerships and provide global opportunities for students and faculty.
Their generosity extends to funding a fellowship grant for faculty from the University of the Philippines to collaborate on research with UC Berkeley professors, and establishing the Banatao Family Filipino American Education Fund.
Both Dado and Maria have served on various university boards, including the CITRIS Advisory Board and the UC Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees. For their long-term leadership and service to the university, they received the 2019 Berkeley Founders Award.
Dado Banatao's name should join the pantheon of the tech revolution innovators alongside Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg.
He leaves behind his wife Maria and three children and nine grandchildren. The family is making arrangements for a celebration of Dado Banatao's life, details of which will be announced at this website.
The boy who used to walk barefoot to school made the world faster, smarter, smaller and a lot more inspired.
"The legacy I want to leave is simply to be remembered as a good person first, an engineer second," he once told students at Xavier University in the Philippines. "I firmly believe that true fortune resides in fortitude, family, and faith."
"The legacy I want to leave is simply to be remembered as a good person first, an engineer second," he once told students at Xavier University in the Philippines. "I firmly believe that true fortune resides in fortitude, family, and faith."
Rest in peace, Dado.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.
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