25 Random Things About Intel

Going over Intel’s Facebook page we found something quite interesting which should keep you occupied for some time. It is amusing to read it. You may know most of the things if you have been following Intel for a long time, but there may be a few surprises.

1. My co-founder Robert Noyce, a guy who coined the phrase “Don’t be encumbered by history…go off and do something wonderful,” co-invented the integrated circuit, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and his charismatic personality influenced the rise of the archetypical Silicon Valley entrepreneur ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Noyce, (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20050616corp.htm).

2. Although my co-founder Gordon Moore is best known for his observation “Moore’s Law” that plotted the doubling of transistors on a computer processor about every 18 months, I’m most proud of his work through the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation he founded, through which he has donated millions of dollars to philanthropic endeavors. (http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/?iid=SEARCH, http://www.moore.org, http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm)

3. Many of my employees have the unique ability to construct almost entire sentences out of acronyms, as in “DHG SLRP ARs include new PORs and WW TAMs.”

4. I created a dictionary for my employees that explain what our acronyms mean.

5. I host “Wild Wednesdays” at my headquarters site in the summer with BBQ lunch and “Robert’s Noise Band” playing during lunch.

6. WiPro consulting has determined that it costs more than 30 percent more to support a four-year-old PC than a new one, while replacing a three-year-old desktop PC with a notebook with my processor and management features can reduce energy consumption 26 times according to testing performed by my Performance Benchmark and Competitive Analysis group. (http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/33/54/335457_335457.pdf)

7. My lab workers get free bunny suits (and I don’t mean for Halloween); other employees have to beg, borrow or steal. (http://www.intel.com/education/cleanroom/index2.htm)

8. I may have one of the world’s largest cube farms – all employees have cubes, even my CEO doesn’t get an office.

9. My processors are found in more than 80 percent of the world’s PCs, according to Mercury Research.

10. We have a process called “constructive confrontation” and “open door policies” where I expect employees to openly discuss their differing opinions and beliefs – even with their bosses and senior executives. (http://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/ebuzz/0803/thoughtleaders.cfm)

11.“Only the Paranoid Survive” isn’t just the title of an important business book from the 1990s and a famous saying from my co-founder Andy Grove but an important mantra that still echoes through my halls. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove/paranoid.htm)

12. Thanks to Moore’s Law, PCs based on my processors will continue to be energy-efficient yet powerful enough to handle all of the video, photos and information sharing that could literally double each year moving forward, as “Zuckerberg’s law” predicts. (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/zuckerbergs-law-of-information-sharing/)

13. My manufacturing employees who spend their days inside the “fab” – or factory – refer to the rest of my employees as “carpet-dwellers.” (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20090210corp.htm)

14. My factories reclaim more than 3 billion gallons of water each year, and I am the largest purchaser of green power in the U.S. according to the EPA.

15. My first processor, the 4004, only had 2300 transistors; my modern processors have over half a billion. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/events/60th_anniversary/index.htm)

16. I am proud that my employees contributed over 1 million service hours in their local communities in 2008 alone.

17. I have my own museum in Santa Clara, CA. (http://www.intel.com/museum/)

18. My founders left Fairchild more than 40 years ago and told the San Jose Mercury News that they were starting a new company to “regain the satisfaction of research and development in a small and growing company.” (http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2008/07/40_years_ago_today_robert.php)

19. All of my products are given codenames before they get official names at launch, which typically come from geographic locations around the world, often from the cities or areas where teams working on the product are based.

20. I live by the motto “bigger is not better.”

21. I celebrated my 40th birthday last year but don’t consider myself over the hill. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080717corp_sm.htm)

22. I recently discovered that a popular response to a loved one’s advances is “Not tonight dear, I’d rather blog.” According to a survey I commissioned, about half of US women would prefer to go without sex for two weeks than manage without the Internet for the same period of time. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20081215corp.htm)

23. At my company, tick-tock does not refer to a clock and a foil isn’t the stuff found in the kitchen to cover up food.

24. I am a TV celebrity in my own right – having made appearances in David Letterman’s Top 10 list, Jeopardy, the Today Show, the Late Show with Conan O’Brien and the Great Race, among others.

25. If a house shrunk at the same pace my transistors have, you would not be able to see a house without a microscope, and if car prices had fallen at the same rate as my transistors the new car today would cost about 1 cent. (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/events/60th_anniversary/index.htm)

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