We all have computers in our homes and offices and most of them have a logo of intel on it. Intel is the American tech company and the world’s largest manufacturer of high valued semiconductor and microprocessors and the company have its headquarter at Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley of United States. The genesis of the name intel comes from “integrated electronics.”
Today you may buy a computer of any brand but the logo of the microprocessor company named intel will be permanent.
Today intel has a collaboration for the supply of microprocessors for the world’s largest computer system manufacturers such as Apple, Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Intel is also one of the largest manufacturers of motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphics chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing.
This article has some aspects of the journey of intel from scratch to the world’s top microprocessor manufacturing company.
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FOUNDING OF THE COMPANY
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, two semiconductor pioneers, engineers, and inventors founded intel corporation on July 18, 1968, based in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley of United States with a funding of $ 2.5 million in arranged by Arthur Rock, the American financier who coined the term venture capitalist.
Both the founders had a background in semiconductor designing, Noyce was one of the inventors of silicon integrated circuit, which he did during his job as general manager of Fairchild Semiconductor, a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument.
Similarly, Moore served as the head of the research and development department at Fairchild Semiconductor. The duo left Fairchild Semiconductor and founded Intel in 1968. Author Rock, the financier was an investor and was chairman of the board of the intel.
THE STARTING OF BUSINESS
Intel debuted in the market with the business of memory chips, the very first product of the company was the world’s first metal oxide semiconductor, 1101, however, this chip did not perform well in the market and soon it was replaced with an upgraded memory chip. To enter the business intel launched 1103, a one-kilobit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chip in 1970, and this chip completed changed market situations for intel. This chip soon after its launch became the best seller in the American market.
American technology company Honeywell in 1970 incorporated 1103 dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chip to replace the core memory technology in its computers. Since DRAM was cheaper and more efficient than the core memory technology, within few months 1103 dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) became the first choice of computer companies.
In 1971 seeking the demand in the market intel designed its first commercially available microprocessor named Intel 4004. This microprocessor was advanced and fast and it also reduced the size of the CPU unit. Another super-fast microprocessor launched was intel 8080, which was about 10 times faster than the previous one.
Intel in 1978 built its first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086. Intel has an almost complete hold in the semiconductor market with 82.9 percent of the DRAM chips in the market had the intel logo in 1983. Intel designed 8088 a further advancement on the 8086 and thus microprocessor was incorporated by International Business Machines in the CPU units of its first mass-produced personal computer (PC).
To further grab the market intel in 1985 launched 80386, a 32-bit chip which was one the most successful microprocessor designed by intel.
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INTEL IN 1990’S – THE ERA OF PLATINUM MICROPROCESSORS
Intel launched a platinum microprocessor chip in 1993. This chip changed the market scenarios for intel completely. This new microprocessor was an intel chip that can be fitted into PCs to use parallel, or superscalar, processing, which significantly increased its speed. Platinum microprocessors had 3.1 million transistors, compared with the 1.2 million transistors of its predecessor, the 80486.
This superfast microprocessor by intel completely changed the computing experience of the users. Now with this advanced chip computer users can use their PCs for multimedia graphical applications such as games that required more processing power.
The success of the intel microprocessors was due to the huge number of transistors used in each device. The usage of more numbers was based on Moore’s law ( based on Gordon Moore who was also the co-founder of the intel). According to this law, the transistor count on a silicon chip would double approximately annually.
This was clearly visible from the number of transistors used in the devices like the 8088 launched in the first IBM PC had 29,000 transistors, while the 80386 which was launched four years later included 275,000, similarly, the Core 2 Quad introduced in 2008 had more than 800,000,000 transistors, following Moore’s law the Itanium 9500, which was released in 2012, had 3,100,000,000 transistors.
In 1995 intel ventured into the motherboard market sp that the chips designed by it could be fitted into small computers. Intel designed motherboards that contained all the essential parts of the computer, including graphics and networking chips. By 1995 the company was selling more than 10 million motherboards to computer designers worldwide and about 40 percent of the overall computers in 1195 had intel designed motherboard.
BUSINESS OF INTEL AFTER 2000
Years between 2000 to 2004 were the period of slowdown in the market of intel. The demand for intel products slowed down mostly due to the controversial NetBurst microarchitecture. But in after 2005 under the leadership of CEO Paul Otellini intel again gained momentum. Intel in2006 launched Core microarchitecture and in 2008 launched Penryn microarchitecture, both these microprocessors helped intel to regain the market which was lost in the starting years of the decade.
In 2010, intel purchased McAfee, which was a manufacturer of computer security technology software for $ 7.68 billion. In the year 2007 intel launched its Intel Core 2 processor which was surrounded by many controversies.
In 2011 intel launched the company’s first low-cost netbook computer, the classmate. In the same year, intel also launched its first Pentium mobile processor which was based on the sandy bridge core, which was much faster than the previous processors. This mobile processor performed well in the market and raised the revenues for the company.
In 2012 intel agreed for a [artnership with google and due to this partnership google android 2.3 was powered by intel’s Atom microprocessor. In June 2013, Intel launched its fourth generation of Intel Core processors.
Today intel has stepped into various other ventures like it is designing wearable devices like watches and earbuds with very advanced features. Intel has also stretched its leg into the industry of fog computing. In 2017 intel also entered into the self-driving advanced cars industry with a partnership with Mobileye.
Today intel has its physical presence in more than 100 locations around the world. China, Hongkong, Malaysia are some of the major markets for Intel products.
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CEO OF INTEL CORPORATION FROM FOUNDING TO PRESENT
The founder of the company Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore served as the first and second CEO of the company. Noyce was the first CEO and served the post from 1968 to 1975. Moore took over him in 1975 and remained at the post till 1987. After this Andy Grove became the CEO of intel corporation and served almost two decades till 2005. The other CEOs who served are Paul Otellini ( 2005 – 2012 ) , Brian Krzanich ( 2013 – 2018 ). In 2018 Bob Swan was named as the new CEO of the company.
PRESENT FINANCIAL POSITION
Intel is one the largest corporation in the field of computer processor manufacturing. To intel corporation has its physical presence in more than 100 cities worldwide. Intel products have marketing all the countries of the world but the major market for the company is China (including Hong Kong) which generates about 30% of intel’s sales, followed by Singapore and US computer manufacturers which contribute to over 20% each, and manufacturers in Taiwan share nearly 15% of the sales.
You will find intel designed processor in many computer brands of the world but the three largest customers of intel account for more than 40% of revenue. They are Dell Technologies which has more than 15% of sales, and Lenovo Group (nearly 15%) and HP Inc., with around 10%.
In the past five years, the sales of the intel microprocessors were on the peak which generated huge revenues for the company. In 2019, the intel’s revenue was around $ 72 billion with a 2% increase from 2018.
