Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 51 Give Intel a scissors again
The three major personal computer software developed by Tang Huan, spreadsheet, word processing and database, are able to perform various practical functions on the second-generation Apple machine like a fish in water, mainly due to the openness left by Woz at the beginning of the design. type expansion slot.

Through this interface, the enhanced card integrating microprocessor, memory and special circuit can significantly improve the data processing efficiency of the computer, and maximize the power of the combination of software and hardware.

The solution of this mode has been prosperous for a long time. For example, in the early 90s, if users wanted to watch videos smoothly on their personal computers, they had to configure special accelerated decompression card hardware and other equipment in addition to sound cards and graphics cards. Matching player software.

In addition, this model can effectively combat piracy.

Most importantly, this model caters to today's fetishization of tangible hardware.After all, in the habitual thinking of many people, the invisible software on the disk is worthless and unreliable, and only the physical hardware installed in the main computer box is worth buying.

In the original time and space of 1984, Apple's annual sales reached US$15 billion, while Microsoft's sales during the same period were US$1 million.This fact goes some way to explaining the prevalence of such phenomena.

No matter how you look at it, Tang Huan's products need this model to be ahead of competitors in the current era.

But then there is a problem that is more troublesome, that is, the read-only memory where the program code is placed, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to update its content.

In the history of the development of semiconductor read-only memory, programmable read-only memory (PROM) was widely used in the early stage. There are determinant fuses inside, which can be blown by current according to the needs of users, so as to write the required material.

Once the fuse is blown, it cannot be restored, which means that the data cannot be changed. This is a read-only memory in the true sense.

Next came the erasable programmable read-only memory EPROM, which uses high voltage to write data, and can be irradiated with ultraviolet light for a period of time through the reserved quartz glass transparent window to clear the original data for reuse.

EPROM is the widely used read-only memory at present. The trouble is that the process of clearing the memory by ultraviolet radiation often takes half an hour to complete, and the efficiency is really not flattering.When Kildall wrote CP/M, he suffered from it.

According to Tang Huan's memory, the successor of EPROM, the technology of electronic erasable programmable read-only memory EEPROM has appeared in Intel in 1978.

The principle of EEPROM is similar to that of EPROM, but the way of erasing and writing is done using a high electric field, so it is much more convenient and faster than using ultraviolet light through a transparent window.

The application of new technology products must mean not low cost, but Tang Huan believes that if Intel's EEPROM is practical, it is worth listing it as a procurement target.

This is the main reason why he took the time to visit Intel before going to Taiwan for the second time.

……

Now Intel can be called rich and handsome. The document Tang Huan is looking at shows that just last year, when Intel celebrated its 10th anniversary, its annual sales reached 4.006 million U.S. dollars, with a profit of 4430 million U.S. dollars. 10900, entering the Global Fortune 500 for the first time.

Intel has become synonymous with memory, yes, even though it has developed CPU4004, 8008, 8080, and released the 16-bit CPU8086 last year, but its main business is DRAM, SRAM and ROM. In the 70s, Intel was the market leader in these three products.

Speaking of Intel's origins, it can be said that its founder is an expert in integrated circuit technology, so much so that he won one of the four giants of Silicon Valley venture capital in 5 minutes with just a few pages of a simple plan. Arthur Locke's favor, raising $250 million in startup funding.

In 1955, William Shockley, the "father of the transistor", left Bell Labs and came to Silicon Valley, where he founded the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and attracted many talented young scientists to join.

But soon, Shockley's management methods and weird behavior caused dissatisfaction among employees.Among them, Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Julius Blank, Eugene Clare, Kim Herney, Jay Last, Sheldon, who Shockley called the "Eight Rebels" Roberts and Victor Greenik jointly resigned and co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in October 1957.

Due to the rapid development of Fairchild Semiconductor, its internal organizational management and product issues have become increasingly unbalanced.

In July 1968, two of the co-founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, resigned and founded Intel in the same year. After Jerry Sanders left Fairchild Semiconductor, Founded AMD.

The relationship between the two companies was once close, but began to turn against each other in the mid-80s, and they staged a good show of competition in the processor market.

After the car arrived at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, Tang Huan put down Intel-related information, walked into Intel's office area with Simone, and inadvertently saw Intel's current slogan, "Intel Delivers."

Tang Huan suddenly wanted to laugh. "Intel Inside" had been cut off by himself with a click of scissors. He didn't know what slogan Intel would use to fool users in the future Pentium CPU era. Maybe it would be directly upgraded to "Intel Leapahead".

There is no personal exclusive office in Intel. An open floor is separated by various partitions, and employees work in it, and executives are no exception.

Boss Tang Huan is now a well-known figure in Silicon Valley, so he was easily interviewed by Andy Grove, who was promoted to president this year.

Grove and Simeone are fellow villagers, born in 1936 to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary.

Because of the complicated situation and painful experience brought about by World War II, Grove fled to the United States when he was 20 years old and went to his uncle and aunt.

In 1960, Grove nearly graduated from CUNY with straight honors.However, he is still the leader among his classmates.When he graduated, the New York Times featured his academic success, lavishing praise and predicting that he would be a future star in science.

After that, Grove entered the University of California, Berkeley to study for a doctorate.As always, he excelled academically and became a star among the PhDs.

In 1963, at Moore's invitation, Grove joined Fairchild Semiconductor.

In 1968, Grove followed Moore and became Intel's third employee, and has been working until now.

Tang Huan took a look at Grover in front of him. Although he was short and unattractive, he was full of momentum.

Tang Huan knew very well that Grove's work style was extremely tough, and he would be named the toughest boss in the future.

Grove is said to have yelled at a female employee: "If you're a man, I'll break your legs."

Among the current Intel executives, if Noyce and Moore sang red faces, then Grove sang bad faces.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two sides directly talked about the purpose of this meeting - EEPROM.

Grove led Tang Huan and Simeone to watch the product demonstration, and then said bluntly: "At present, this technology is only available to Intel, and the manufacturing process is not small, so the product price will not be low."

Tang Huan nodded, "I am mentally prepared for this situation. You guys should produce a batch of samples for me first, so that I can evaluate the actual application effect."

Grove nodded in agreement. Although the business is not big, it has great prospects. A new star company like Zheru came to do experiments on the initiative of a guinea pig. Intel really wanted it.

Strictly speaking, EEPROM technology is unintentional.

In 1978, when Intel engineer George Perlegos developed Intel2816, on the basis of EPROM technology, he switched to a thin gate oxide layer so that the chip could electrically erase its own bits without ultraviolet light, so the model was developed. 2816KB EEPROM for the 16.

As far as Tang Huan knows, Perlegos and some colleagues later left Intel and founded Seeq Technology to produce EEPROM.

After Seeq's internal strife, Perlegos teamed up with a Chinese to found the famous ATMEL company, Atmel.

It can be seen that Perlegos, the inventor of EEPROM, is not a loyal minister of Intel, and he can take advantage of this opportunity to enter the semiconductor industry.

"I want to talk to the EEPROM R&D engineers about the problem of the interface circuit. Can I meet them?" Tang Huan asked Grove calmly.

(End of this chapter)