Founders & Inventors·3 min read

Ajay Bhatt

Co-Inventor of USB

Indian-American·1957 – Present

Founded / led

Intel

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Ajay Bhatt

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Ajay Bhatt helped invent USB — Universal Serial Bus — the connector and protocol family that made plugging devices into computers simple. Working at Intel with collaborators across the industry, he pushed a standard that replaced a maze of serial, parallel, and proprietary ports. Keyboards, mice, printers, phones, cameras, and disks gained one shared language. Bhatt’s impact is invisible until you notice how rarely anyone thinks about which port a gadget needs.

“I wanted a simple technology that would allow me to connect a keyboard or a mouse without opening the PC.”
— Ajay Bhatt

What they built

Companies & roles

Intel

Architect & co-inventor of USB

1990s–2010s

At Intel, Bhatt worked on platform architecture and helped define USB as an industry standard with partners. The goal was a single, hot-pluggable interface for many peripherals.

Impact

How they changed tech

USB as a universal connector

USB replaced a confusing set of PC ports with a standard cable family. Users could plug devices in without configuring IRQs or opening computer cases — a massive usability win.

Hot-plugging and power

USB combined data and power in one cable and allowed devices to connect while the system was running. That convenience became baseline expectation for consumer electronics.

An industry standard, not a single-vendor port

USB succeeded because multiple companies adopted it. Bhatt’s work sat inside a standards effort that made interoperability the product.

Foundation for later USB generations

USB 2.0, 3.x, USB-C, and charging ecosystems all descend from the original bet on a universal bus. The connector evolved; the idea remained.

Everyday peripheral simplicity

From school computer labs to offices and living rooms, USB made accessories commodity objects. That simplicity accelerated PC and later mobile accessory markets.

Key moments

Timeline

1957
Born in India
Later studies and joins the U.S. semiconductor industry.
1990s
USB effort
Works at Intel on a universal peripheral interconnect.
1996
USB appears
USB begins showing up in PCs and devices.
1998–2000s
Mass adoption
USB becomes the default PC peripheral interface.
2008+
USB evolution
Faster versions and new connectors extend the standard.
2010s
USB-C era
A new reversible connector continues the universal-port idea.

Quick hits

Interesting facts

•He is widely credited as a co-inventor of USB.
•USB replaced many legacy PC ports.
•He worked on the standard while at Intel.
•USB carries both data and power.
•The Intel “USB rock star” ad made him briefly famous to consumers.
•Billions of USB devices have shipped worldwide.

Why it matters

Legacy

Bhatt’s legacy is the cable you do not have to think about. By helping invent USB, he turned device connection into a default rather than a specialist skill. Standards are quiet infrastructure; USB is one of the quietest and most successful in computing history. Plug and play became literal.

FAQ