Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation (, ), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in Santa Clara, California, USA, is the world's largest semiconductor company. Intel is best known for its PC microprocessors, where it maintains roughly 80% market share. Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and other networking ICs, flash memory, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Intel's core competency is based not only in its chip design capability but in its world class manufacturing operation; the company is at the leading edge of advanced process technology and also has advanced research projects in all aspects of semiconductor manufacturing, including MEMS.

Overview

Intel headquarters in Santa Clara

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 members of the Traitorous Eight, 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 somewhat since diminished its position.

The company currently has nearly 100,000 employees and 200 facilities world wide. Its revenues for 2005 were $38.8 billion. Its Fortune 500 ranking is 50th, and its stock symbol is INTC.

Competitors

During the Eighties, Intel was among the Top Ten of the worldwide semiconductor sales leaders (10th in 1987), dominated by Japanese chip makers. In 1991, Intel achieved the number one ranking and has held it ever since. Other top semiconductor companies include Samsung, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics. For more information, refer to the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year.
In terms of direct competitors, Intel's chief rival in PC microprocessors is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Competitors in PC chipsets include Via, SiS, ATI, and NVIDIA. Intel's competitors in networking include Freescale, Broadcom, Marvell, and AMCC, and its competitors in flash memory include Spansion, Samsung, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, and Hynix.

SRAMS and the microprocessor

Intel C4004, the world's first single-chip microprocessor. The "gold and white with gray traces" specimen shown belongs to the initial CERDIP type series manufactured in 1971.

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.)

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.

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.

The rise of PC architecture

Intel Pentium 4 Processor

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.

New architectures are developed alternately in Santa Clara, California and Hillsboro, Oregon.

Santa Clara, California

*P5 Pentium finished 1993
*P7 64 bit x86 core 64 bit successor to the P6 dropped 1994
*P7 new 64 bit IA-64 Merced/Itanium

Hillsboro, Oregon

*P6 Pentium Pro finished 1995
*P67 (P68) 32 bit x86 core Willamette/P4
*64 bit x86 core

Partnership with Apple

On June 6 2005, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be transitioning from its long favored PowerPC architecture to the Intel X86 architecture. Reasons stated for the change were vague but included thermal issues with recent PowerPC G5 chips and an implication that the future PowerPC roadmap was unable to satisfy Apple's needs for computing power. In particular, the large power requirement of the G5 chip and subsequent heat generation was seen as a major stumbling block, preventing the placement of such a chip in one of Apple's laptop computers. The first Apple computers containing Intel CPUs were announced on January 10, 2006. Apple initially planned to put Intel chips in all of their computers by the end of 2007,Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006 www.apple.com but Apple managed to have its entire product line running on Intel processors by the end of August 2006.Jobs: New Intel Macs are 'screamers' news.com

Competition, antitrust and espionage

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.

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 VIA and Transmeta produce low-power processors for small factor computers and portable equipment.

A case of industrial espionage arose in 1995 that involved both Intel and AMD. Guillermo Gaede, an Argentine national formerly employed both at AMD and at Intel's Arizona plant, was arrested for attempting in 1993 to sell the i486 and Pentium designs to AMD and to certain foreign powersWorker Pleads Not Guilty in Intel Spy Case nytimes.com Ex-Intel Engineer Sentenced to Prison Term nytimes.com. Gaede videotaped data from his computer screen at Intel and mailed it to AMD, which alerted Intel and authorities, resulting in Gaede's arrest Guillermo Gaede pleads guilty findarticles.com. Gaede was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in prison in June of 1996.

Intel filed its response to an AMD lawsuitIntel Files Response To AMD Complaint www.intel.com in September 2005, disputing AMD's claims, and 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 Intel's Legal Strategy Takes Shape www.forbes.com.

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 and 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. On May 18 2005, Barrett handed the reins of the company over to Paul Otellini, who previously was the company president and was responsible for Intel's design win in the original IBM PC. 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.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of Intel are: Craig Barrett, Charlene Barshefsky, John Browne, James Guzy, Reed Hundt, James Plummer, David Pottruck, Jane Shaw, John Thornton, and David Yoffie.

Origin of the name

At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company "Moore Noyce". This name, however, sounded remarkably similar to "more noise" — an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise is typically 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.

By coincidence, the BBC television science-fiction serials A for Andromeda (1961) and its sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962) had earlier featured a sinister multi-national electronics corporation named Intel, which had been involved in a plot to take control of a powerful computer constructed on Earth from alien radio instructions.

Finances

Intel's market capitalization is $119 billion (March 29, 2006). It publicly trades on NASDAQ with the symbol INTC, and is a member of the following indexes: Dow Industrials, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, SOX (PHLX Semiconductor Sector), and GSTI Software Index.

Diversity

Intel has a Diversity Initiative, including employee diversity groups as well as supplier diversity programs Intel — commitment to diversity www.intel.com . Like many companies with employee diversity groups, they include groups based on race and nationality as well as sexual identity and religion. In 1994, Intel sanctioned one of the earliest corporate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender employee groups Intel Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender Employees Home Page, and supports a Muslim employees group The Intel Muslim Employee Group (IMEG), a Jewish employees group Intel Jewish Community (IJC), and a Bible-based Christian groupIntel Bible-Based Christian Network (IBCN)IBCN website.

Intel received a 100% rating on the first Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2002. It has maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2005 by Working Mother magazine. However, Intel's working practices still face criticism, most notably from Ken Hamidi Former And Current Employees of Intel www.faceintel.com, a former employee who has been subject to multiple unsuccessful lawsuits from Intel.

Advertising

Image:Intel Logo.svg|Intel's old logo
(1968–2005) Image:Intel Inside Logo.svg|The well known
Intel Inside slogan
(1990–2005) Image:Intel 4c 100tag.svg|Intel's new logo and slogan
(2006–)

Intel has become one of the world's most recognizable computer brands following its long-running "Intel Inside" campaign. The campaign, which started in 1990, was created by Intel marketing manager Dennis Carter Anatomy of a Brand Campaign www.intel.com. The five-note jingle was introduced the following year and by its tenth anniversary was being heard in 130 countries around the world.

The Intel Inside program was very lucrative for advertisers. Intel paid half the advertising costs for any ad that used the "Intel Inside" logo. However, in print media, Intel stipulated that the page the ad was on must not contain any references to competitors, such as AMD. If the ads didn't meet these requirements, Intel did not pay half the cost, and the advertiser was prohibited from using the "Intel Inside" logo. Intel employed staff whose primary function was looking for advertisements which violate the agreement. Advertisers found doing so—many of which were "mom and pop" shops ignorant of the reimbursement agreement—were requested to stop violating the use of the logo and were then told how to legally use the logo and get part of their advertising costs reimbursed.

The Centrino advertising campaign has been hugely successful, leading to the ability to access wireless internet from a laptop becoming linked in consumers minds to Intel chips. In the UK this has caused some controversy, as the ASA upheld complaints that this was a misleading advert.

In 2006, Intel has expanded its promotion of open specification platforms beyond Centrino, to include the Viiv media centre PC and the business desktop Intel vPro.

PC companies advertising products containing Intel chips are required to include the jingle in their film and television advertisements in order to receive the reimbursement.

In December 2005, Intel phased out the "Intel Inside" campaign in favor of a new logo and the slogan, "Leap ahead". The new logo is clearly inspired by the "Intel Inside" logo. In fact, sometimes "Intel Inside" is used, only this time with the processor name between the two words. Like so: "Intel Core Duo Inside".

Mariah Carey in her commercial for Intel.

In mid January 2006, Intel announced that they were dropping the long running Pentium name from its processors. They phased out the Pentium names from mobile processors first, when the new Yonah chips, branded Core Solo and Core Duo, were released. The desktop processors changed when the Core 2 line of processors were released. The Pentium name was first used to refer to the P5 core Intel processors (Pent refers to the 5 in P5,) and was done to circumvent court rulings that prevent the trademarking of a string of numbers, so competitors could not just call their processor the same name, as had been done with the prior 386 and 486 processors. (Both of which had copies manufactured by both IBM and AMD.)

Though some in the Macintosh community were concerned that Intel's branding, including the decals and jingle, would be used with the new Intel-based Macintoshes (see Apple Intel transition), this has not occurred.

Intel's "Intel Inside" campaign has generally been considered to be world class marketing. However, over the years there have been several plays on the Intel branding scheme which have appeared on the web. While such jabs at Intel are obviously beyond the company's ability to control, they do tend to show that not everyone believes that Intel's programs and policies are always world class. For example, there is the popular "evil inside" logo[1], the ubiquitous picture of a tombstone with "R.I.P Intel Inside" [2], and the descriptive "Idiot Outside" logo: [3].

Intel is a major sponsor of the BMW Sauber Formula 1 racing team.

Intel outsource much of their 1st and 2nd line technical support in EMEA to UK volume agency MM Teleperformance.

Jingle

The famous "D♭ D♭ G♭ D♭ A♭" jingle was written by Walter Werzowa from the Austrian 1980s sampling band Edelweiss Paul Morley on the Intel Pentium ad jingle Guardian Online.

References

Data

*Yahoo! — Intel Corporation Company Profile
*Intel Corp Company Profile and News Archive
*Intel's most recent conference call transcripts

Intel Corporation: Encyclopedia BETA

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