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Intel, the giant chip-making semiconductor titan, creates motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers, and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, as well as a number of related computer and communications-related devices. The company's history is full of interesting trivia that make for an interesting hit among fans everywhere. Here are a few nuggets of wisdom:
1. The name, the name!
Born in 1968, Intel was first called 'N M Electronics'.
2. Second name
Then the company settled for 'Moore Noyce,' which was a blend of the surnames of the founders, Gordon E. Moore and Robert N. Noyce. But when their colleagues pointed out that the name 'Moore Noyce' sounded like "more noise," the founders just decided to drop it.
3. 'Intel'
Next, the company settled for the first syllables of 'Integrated Electronics.' That signified the birth of 'Intel'!
4. Hotel link
However, a hotel chain had the same brand name, so the company had to pay the owners $15,000 to use the name.
5. Moore's Law
Do you know all about Moore's Law? Moore did. He said that semiconductors' performance doubles after a couple of years. But who was Moore anyway? He was Intel's co-founder, Gordon Moore. He was the man who made that idea viral.
6. Leader and Mentor
Intel co-founder Bob Noyce was a significant mentor of Steve Jobs in his youth. Jobs acknowledged Noyce's contribution during his acclaimed Stanford commencement speech.
7. Writer and Mentor
The former Intel CEO Andy Grove was another mentor of Jobs. He had written a number of best-selling books that became required reading at business schools. Two of these books include 'Only the Paranoid Survive' and 'High Output Management'.
8. Digital watches
It was in 1972 that the company toyed with the idea of acquiring digital watch maker Microma. Around that time, the digital watches were thought to be high-tech and fashionable. Many of the consumer items sold for hundreds of dollars. However, with a drop in competition, the prices of digital watches fell to extreme lows. Hence, it was goodbye to the consumer jewelry market for Intel.
9. Live Feed
The Number One live video from space to Earth in 1995 was all thanks to Intel's chips. For astronauts who hopped on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour, it was interesting to stream a live feed, along with photo shots, images and annotations. It swiftly reached ground control at Johnson Space Center, Houston.
10. Jingle....
Remember the five-chimed jingle, or the 'Intel Bong' as it is called officially? The famous reverberation was composed in 1994 by Walter Werzowa, the Austrian composer.
11. ...All the way
It was a reverberating jingle that rang with its marketing, so much so that people estimate that it is heard once every five minutes somewhere all over the world.
12. Oh what fun!
The Intel 'Bong' is hazarded to have been played more than 1 billion times so far.
13. Intel Inside
This brand campaign began in 1991, helping the company to reach the most popular slots in the world. Intel is Number One in the market for semiconductor manufacturers, having beaten its main competitor Samsung Electronics by quite a margin.
14. Cubical culture
Intel is appreciated for having developed corporate America's shoulder-high "cubical culture" that kept communication open among the employees. However, that was a practice that was not liked by newer companies and led to Intel going in for a $10 million make-over as far back as 2007.
15. Finances
Intel was the Number One global semiconductor company that in its first year totted up its total revenue to $2,672. In 1971, it went public, raising $6.8 million, selling shares costing $23.50 each. The company was worth $54 billion in 2013.
16. Brand value
The brand is all! Global brand consultancy Interbrand has put Intel on the world's 14th valuable rank last year. Its estimated brand value is $36.9 billion. That puts Intel between other companies such as Disney (13th) and even Facebook (15th), which also have to confront consumers.
17. Acquisitions
Intel has been an 'acquiring' company. For years, it has overtaken a number of firms, with Intel Capital investing more than $9 billion in a thousand companies since 1991. Intel also in 1972 took on Microma to penerate the digital watch market. Recently, they have acquired McAfee.
18. Security systems
Many companies in the car security systems and digital content protection services have also been their recent acquisitions.
19. Big success
Intel company's major first success was in 1971, with the 4004 microprocessor. This contained 2300 transistors, with a 4-bit CPU.
20. IBM partnership
A decade later, the 8088 CPU contained 29000 transistors. It was used in the IBM computers, which engaged with an outside vendor for the first time. This alliance revolutionised the computer world for all time. The Core2duo processor has 100,000 times the transistors of the 4004.
21. Intel's share
Intel is a giant in its core markets. It holds over 90% share for PC as well as server microprocessors.
22. Intel's R&D advantage
Intel puts in so much into R and D that its competitors try but cannot gain over Intel. That is why for the fiscal year, 2016, Intel spent $12.7 billion on R&D alone. This was over competitor AMD's R and D of $4.2 billion. That made for Intel's truly awesome score in scale.
23. Shrinking chips
Intel as well as other semiconductor producers have stuck to Moore's Law, continuously shrinking the transistors it could fit into its chips.
24. More transistors
While there were 6,000 transistors in Intel 8080, there are 2.6 billion transistors in PC microprocessors today.
25. Popular work
The company has been responsible for building some of the most popularly circulated CPUs for PCs and gaming consoles.
26. Microprocessor
It was in 1974 that Intel created 8080 microprocessors. This was the first 8-bit true general purpose microprocessor. It is still seen to be among the biggest breakthroughs in Intel's history.
27. Adaptations by PCs
The x86 series of microprocessors were adapted by a number of personal computers.
28. Intergalactic Intel
Scientists are big fans of Intel. Back in 1987, the CERGA Observatory researchers titled a Caussols main belt asteroid "Intel 8080" after the chipmaker. This is a title that has been derived from Intel's 8080 chip that enabled a revolution in personal computing.
29. Cleanroom
In Intel's cleanroom that is reputed to be cleaner than a hospital, the company manufactures chips. The employees are required to don special bunny suits so that they can get into work here. Here, the environment is absolutely clean, without any particles that go beyond the size of 0.5 microns.
30. Intel Museum
The currently live company houses a museum of its own history with various artefacts as well as interesting tidbits related to the company. It is amazing that a company that is just 40 years young already has a history and museum commemorating its birth and growth! It is visited by more than 80,000 people every year.
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Also suggested to read: If you think Intel is quite innovative, you should probably read this Wix Review to see how this company is doing: they have a very interesting concept.
