HISTORY
Intel was founded in Mountain View, California in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore, Robert Noyce and Arthur Rock. Moore and Noyce had both come from Fairchild Semiconductor. As you know, before They joined together with ( Sherman ) Fairchild Semiconductor. They are William Shockley Students from Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Arthur was an investor only, The total investment in Intel was $2.5 million convertible debentures and $10.000 from Rock. Intel third employee was Andy Grove.
Moore and Noyce initially wanted to name the company "Moore Noyce". The name however was a homophone for "more noise". An ill-suited name for an electronics company. Instead they used the name NM Electronics for almost a year before deciding to call their company, INTegrated ELectronics or Intel. Since "Intel" was already trademarked by the hotel chain Intelco, they had to buy the rights for the name.
Early History
Intel first product in 1969 was the 3101 Schottky bipolar Random Access Memory ( RAM ). That same year Intel produced the first Metal Oxide Semiconductor ( MOS ) Static Random Access Memory ( SRAM ) chips. Intel business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved it's manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices.
While Intel created the first commercially available microprocessor ( Intel 4004 ) in 1971 and one of the first microcomputers in 1972. By the early 1980s its business was dominated by Dynamic Random Access Memory ( DRAM ) chips. However increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had by 1983. Dramatically reduced the profitability of this market and the sudden success of the IBM Personal Computer ( PC ). CEO Andrew Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors and to change fundamental aspects of that business model.
By the end of 1980's this decision had proven successful. Intel embarked on 10-years period of unprecedented growth as the primary hardware supplier to the PC industry. By launching its Intel Inside marketing campaign in 1991, Intel was able to associate brand loyalty with consumer selection. By the end of 1990's, its line of Pentium processors had become a household name.
Slowing Demand and Challenges To Dominance
After 2000, growth in demand for high end microprocessors slowed. Their competitor, AMD ( Intel's largest competitor in its primary x86 architecture market ) garnered significant market share. Initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range and Intel's dominant position in its core market was greatly reduced.
In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms ( enterprise, digital home, digital health and mobility ) which led to the hiring of over 20.000 new employees. In September 2006 due to falling profits. The company announced a restructuring that resulted that resulted in layoffs of 10.500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July 2006.
Regaining of Momentum
Faced with the need to regain lost marketplace momentum. Intel unveiled its new product development model to regain its prior technological lead. Known as its "tick-tock model", the program was based upon annual alternation of microarchitecture innovation and process innovation.
In 2006, Intel produced P6 and NetBurst products with reduced die size (65 nm). A year later it unveiled its Core microarchitecture to widespread critical acclaim.
In 2008, we saw another "tick", Intel introduced the Penryn microarchitecture, undergoing a shrink from 65 nm to 45 nm, and the year after saw the release of its positively reviewed successor processor, Nehalem, followed by another silicon shrink to the 32nm process.
On June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's XScale assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business to Marvell Technology Group for an estimated $600 million (They bought them for $1.6billion) in cash and the assumption of unspecified liabilities. The move was intended to permit Intel to focus its resources on its core x86 and server businesses, and the acquisition completed on November 9, 2006.
Acquisitions
In August 2010, Intel announced two major acquisitions. On August 19, Intel announced that it planned to purchase McAfee, a manufacturer of computer security technology. The purchase price was $7.68 billion, and the companies said that if the deal were approved, new products would be released early in 2011.
Less than two weeks later, the company announced the acquisition of Infineon Technologies’ Wireless Solutions business. With the Infineon transaction, Intel plans to use the company’s technology in laptops, smart phones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers in consumer products, eventually integrating its wireless modem into Intel’s silicon chips. Intel won the European Union regulatory approval for its acquisition of McAfee on January 26, 2011. Intel agreed to ensure that rival security firms have access to all necessary information that would allow their products to use Intel's chips and personal computers.
Following the closure of the McAfee deal, Intel's workforce totals approximately 90,000, including (roughly) 12,000 software engineers. In March 2011, Intel bought most of the assets of Cairo-based SySDSoft. In July 2011, Intel announced that it has agreed to acquire Fulcrum Microsystems Inc, A company specializing in network switches. The company was previously included on EE Times list of 60 Emerging Startups.
Expansions
In 2008, Intel spun off key assets of a solar startup business effort to form an independent company, SpetraWatt Inc. However, as of 2011, SpectraWatt has filed for bankruptcy.
February 2011: The company will build a new microprocessor factory at Chandler, Arizona which is expected to be completed in 2013 at a cost of $5 billion. It will accommodate 4,000 employees. The company produces three quarters of their products in the United States, although three quarters of the revenue come from overseas.
April 2011: Intel Corporation began a pilot project to produce smartphones with ZTE Corporation for China's domestic market. This project is intended to challenge the domination of ARM processors in mobile phones. The smartphone will be based on the Intel Atom processor.
