T.J. Rodgers Rodgers founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982 and has built the company into a global supplier of ICs for a variety of applications. While earning an MS and a PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University, Rodgers invented, developed, and patented VMOS technology, which he sold to American Microsys-tems Inc. From 1975 to 1980, he managed the MOS memory design group at AMI before moving to Advanced Micro Devices, where he ran AMD's static RAM product group. Rodgers currently chairs the Semiconductor Industry Association and is a member of the board for C-Cube and Silicon Light Machines.