Intel

:The following article is about the multinational corporation; intel is also an abbreviation for intelligence, used in reference to military intelligence and espionage.

Overview

Intel was founded in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore (a chemist and physicist) and Robert Noyce (a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit) when they left Fairchild Semiconductor. It is noteworthy that Intel competitor AMD was also founded by Fairchild defectors, in 1969. Intel's employee number four was Andy Grove (a chemical engineer), who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. It is Grove who is now remembered as the company's key leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most successful businesses in the world, though fierce competition within the semiconductor industry has since diminished its position somewhat.

Related Topics:
1968 - Gordon E. Moore - Chemist - Physicist - Robert Noyce - Integrated circuit - Fairchild Semiconductor - AMD - 1969 - Andy Grove - Chemical engineer - 1980s - 1990s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SRAMS and the microprocessor

The company's first products were random-access memory integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive DRAM, SRAM, and ROM markets throughout the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers Marcian Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor and Masatoshi Shima invented the first microprocessor. Originally developed for the Japanese company Busicom to replace a number of ASIC's in a calculator already produced by Busicom, the Intel 4004 was introduced to the mass market on November 15, 1971, though the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s. (Note: Intel is usually given credit with Texas Instruments for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)

Related Topics:
Memory - DRAM - SRAM - ROM - Marcian Hoff - Federico Faggin - Stanley Mazor - Masatoshi Shima - Microprocessor - Busicom - ASIC - Intel 4004 - November 15 - 1971 - Texas Instruments

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From DRAM to microprocessors

In 1983 at the dawn of the personal computer era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from Japanese memory-chip manufacturers, and then-President Andy Grove drove the company into a focus on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book Only the Paranoid Survive. A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the popular 8086 microprocessor.

Related Topics:
Personal computer - Japanese - Only the Paranoid Survive - 8086

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Until then, manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories, and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such as Zilog and AMD. When the PC industry exploded in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.

Related Topics:
Zilog - AMD

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rise of PC architecture

During the 1990s, Intel's Intel Architecture Labs (IAL) was responsible for many of the hardware innovations of the personal computer, including the PCI Bus, the PCI Express (PCIe) bus, the Universal Serial Bus (USB), and the now-dominant architecture for multiprocessor servers. IAL's software efforts met with a more mixed fate; its video and graphics software was important in the development of software digital video, but later its efforts were largely overshadowed by competition from Microsoft. The competition between Intel and Microsoft was revealed in testimony at the Microsoft antitrust trial.

Related Topics:
1990s - Intel Architecture Labs - Personal computer - PCI - PCI Express - Universal Serial Bus - Microsoft

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Partnership with Apple

On June 6 2005, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs announced in his keynote address at WWDC that Apple would be transitioning from its long-favored PowerPC Architecture to Intel CPUs. Reasons stated for the change were vague, but included thermal issues, as recent G5-class PowerPC chips are well-known for running hot. Also, it was implied that the future PowerPC roadmap was unable to satisfy Apple's needs in terms of computing power. In particular, the large power requirement of the G5 chips was seen as a major stumbling block, preventing the placement of such a chip in one of Apple's laptop computers, the PowerBook and iBook. The switchover to Intel will begin in mid-2006, reportedly appearing first in Apple's low-end machines and portables.

Related Topics:
June 6 - 2005 - Apple Computer - Steve Jobs - WWDC - Transitioning - PowerPC - Laptop computers - PowerBook - IBook - 2006

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Competition and antitrust

Intel's dominance in the x86 microprocessor market led to numerous charges of antitrust violations over the years, including FTC investigations in both the late 1980s and in 1999, and civil actions such as the 1997 suit by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and a patent suit by Intergraph. Intel's market dominance (at one time it controlled over 85% of the market for 32-bit PC microprocessors) combined with Intel's own hardball legal tactics (such as its infamous 338 patent suit versus PC manufacturers) made it an attractive target for litigation, but few of the lawsuits ever amounted to anything.

Related Topics:
X86 - Antitrust - FTC - 1980s - 1999 - 1997 - Digital Equipment Corporation - Intergraph - 338 patent

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Currently, the only major competitor to Intel on the x86 processor market is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with which Intel has had full cross-licensing agreements since 1976: each partner can use the other's patented technological innovations without charge. Some smaller competitors such as Transmeta produce low-power processors for portable equipment.

Related Topics:
X86 - Advanced Micro Devices - 1976 - Patent - Transmeta - Low-power

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In June 2005, AMD sued Intel in two jurisdictions for anticompetitive practices. The Japanese Fair Trade Commission found in favor of AMD; the other case will be heard by a court in Delaware. The case in Japan led to "dawn raids" by the European Commission on some European Intel offices in July 2005.

Related Topics:
2005 - Japanese - Fair Trade Commission - Delaware - European Commission

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Intel filed its responsehttp://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20050901corp.htm in September to AMD's lawsuit and refuted AMD's claims, stating that its business practices are fair and lawful. In its rebuttal, Intel laid out the skeleton of its legal defense, which included a deconstruction of AMD's offensive strategy and levied the charge that AMD's long-struggling market position is largely a result of bad business decisions and management incompetence, including underinvestment in essential manufacturing capacity and overreliance on outsourcing chip foundries.http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/09/02/intel-amd-antitrust-cz_dw_0902intel.html?partner=yahootix

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Legal experts predict the lawsuit will most likely drag out for a number of years, since Intel's response indicates they are not likely to try and settle with AMD.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leadership

Robert Noyce was Intel's CEO at its founding in 1969, followed by co-founder Gordon Moore in 1975. Andy Grove became the company's President in 1979 to which he added the CEO title in 1987 when Moore became Chairman. In 1997 Grove succeeded Moore as Chairman, and Craig Barrett, already company president, took over. Barrett, in turn, will retire in 2005 and hand the reigns of the company over to Paul Otellini, who is also already the company president and was responsible for Intel's design win in the original IBM PC. The changes were made effective May 18 2005. The board of directors elected Otellini, and Barrett replaced Grove as chairman of the board. Grove stepped down as Chairman, but will be retained as a special advisor.

Related Topics:
CEO - 1969 - Gordon Moore - 1975 - President - 1979 - 1987 - 1997 - Chairman - Craig Barrett - Paul Otellini - IBM PC - May 18 - 2005 - Board of directors - Chairman of the board

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Origin of the name

At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company "Moore Noyce". But the name did not sound good in electronics—noise being associated with bad interference. They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or "Intel" for short. However, Intel was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning.

Related Topics:
Electronics - Interference - Hotel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~