25 Facts You Should Know about Intel
Intel was founded in 1968 by a chemist, Robert Noyce, and a physicist, Gordon Moore, both of whom had already made waves in the nascent semiconductor industry.
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Gordon Moore is best known for his eponymous law: the number of transistors that can be affordably placed on a semiconductor chip will double every two years. Intel’s business model was built on the economic principals behind Moore’s Law.
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Moore came up with his theory in 1965—at the time his guess was a doubling every year. He updated to every other year in 1975.
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Some experts believe that Moore’s Law will see its demise by 2014 as the size of transistors reaches the atomic level. Even Moore himself says the end is near.
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In 2003 it was estimated that about 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 transistors are shipped each year, or about 100 times the number of ants estimated to be on Earth.
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The price of a sole transistor on a chip is about the cost of a single printed newspaper character.
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Intel made its first big break in 1971 with the Intel 4004 microprocessor.
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This fingernail-thin 4004 offered the same computing firepower as the room-sized ENIAC, the first ever computer introduced in 1946.
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By comparison, the Core2 Duo processor has 100,000 times the number of transistors included in the 4004.
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Anyone who has cursed a cubicle can thank Intel founders for helping to popularize the office honeycomb—early on in company history they moved everyone to a cubicle.
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Even current CEO Paul Otellini sits in a cubicle.
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The cleanroom area of a semiconductor chip fabrication plant is thousands of times cleaner than the typical hospital room.
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Intel employs more than 80,000 people worldwide.
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Half of them are based in the U.S.
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In 2008 alone, Intel spent $5.7 billion on R&D.
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Intel refers to its non-stop, iterative process of developing processor microarchitecture as the "tick-tock" model.
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The first year is the "tick" phase, where focus is spent on new silicon process technology and refining the existing version of the microarchitecure.
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The second year is the "tock" phase, where the goal is to deliver a brand new microarchitecure.
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In 2009, Intel held 14.2 percent of the market, double the 7.2 percent held by Samsung Electronics in the number two spot.
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In 2009 Intel was ranked the 23rd most powerful brand in the world.
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Intel has made its intentions to take the mobile market by storm very clear with its recent spate of acquisitions in 2010.
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Most notable were the $7.8 billion purchase of McAfee and the $1.4 billion pickup of Infineon’s Wireless Solutions Business in August.
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Intel believes McAfee will help it bring antivirus down to the chip layer, an especially important security fundamental for advancing mobile devices.
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Meanwhile Infineon’s wireless business, according to Intel, gives the company portfolio a broader range of wireless options from Wi-Fi through 3G and WiMax.
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Intel’s venture capital arm, Intel Capital, has invested in a number of notable companies over the years including Research in Motion (RIM), WebMD, Red Hat and Citrix.