Celebrating AAPI Month: Ajay Bhatt, Inventor of the USB

May 8, 2024

Our goal for this year is to share and celebrate the incredible advancements and accomplishments of the diverse folks who provide insight, innovation, and inventions of the that drive us daily! So, we’re wishing you a happy AAPI Heritage Month this May! All month long we’ll be featuring notable voices and inventions of Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders in the automotive industry.

Today, we’d like to shine the light on the everyday tech we take for granted, but definitely can’t live without: The USB connection! Nearly every piece of modern technology whether it be phones to media players to cameras to computers utilizes a variety of USB ports, connections, and cables. If you’ve ever charged your device on the go in your car using the included USB ports, you can thank scientist Ajay Bhatt for his heaven sent invention.

Ajay Bhatt is an Indian American inventor, who received a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical in 1980 in India, and later emigrated to the US, where he earned a Master’s Degree from City College of New York. He signed on to Intel’s “Chipset Architecture” team in 1990 as a senior staff architect. While employed with Intel, he created the “Universal Series Bus” system, allowing devices like printers, storage drives and devices, mice to easily connect with computers. He was inspired to innovate device connectivity after his wife encountered connectivity issues with a personal computer and printer for their child’s school proect.

Bhatt currently holds one hundred and thirty two US and international patents, with several more in various stages of development and application filing. His achievements were recognized with an Achievement in Excellence Award in 2002 for his contributions to the PIC Express development. In 2010, he was featured in the July issue of GQ India on their list of “50 Most Influential Global Indians!” list. In 2013, he was recognized at the European Inventor Awards in the “Non-European Countries” category, as well as receiving an “Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology Award at The Asian Awards in London.

Over 10 billion USB devices have been shipped globally! USB technology not only allows us easy access to computing devices, but also allows us to connect devices easily to our car such as phones, laptops, chargers, and media players. We can’t imagine a modern world without it! Thank you Ajay Bhatt for changing our lives.