Chapter 725 of the text Gordon Moore and Andy Grove

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At the invitation of Intel President Andy Grove and Chairman Gordon Moore, Lin and Li Jing briefly visited Intel's headquarters in Silicon Valley.

The headquarters of the world-famous microprocessor manufacturer is an office building with blue glass that looks very ordinary.

Intel isn't that good these days. Forced, and did not dominate the rivers and lakes, and now their mainstream product is still RAM random access, that is, memory.

The performance of computers is largely determined by memory, which is expensive and more profitable than microprocessors, and because of Intel's first-class technology and good performance, the company made money quickly after entering the memory market.

This was the case until the early eighties, when memory was still Intel's main product. At this time, Japan's semiconductor technology rose, and the Japanese wanted to occupy the memory chip market, so they suddenly adopted a price war with Intel and other chip manufacturers. Every time U.S. companies respond to prices, Japanese producers immediately cut their selling prices by 10 percent, thus squeezing out a large share of U.S. memory.

In response to the provocative strategy of Japanese manufacturers, Intel has only two options: design more advanced memory chips, or retreat to markets that Japanese manufacturers are not interested in. Eventually, Intel decided to abandon the memory chip business and instead focus on developing more powerful microprocessors for personal computers.

Gordon Moore and Andy Grove had to do this in the face of the Japanese attack and the decline of the company's memory business, and the memory produced by Intel was backlogged in the warehouse like a mountain, coupled with the failure of cash flow, and in the face of a deep crisis, choosing to abandon the RAM memory business seemed to them to be the wisest choice. Because chip manufacturers such as Intel are at a disadvantage compared to their competitors, Japanese manufacturers, which have strong support from their own governments and sufficient bank loans.

The semiconductor industry, which is a small and sophisticated industry, is regarded by the Japanese as an industry that is extremely suitable for Japan. Due to the long-term support of national policies, Japan's semiconductor technology completely rose in the seventies and eighties, and at this time strong companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Electric were born.

In the era of Japan's semiconductor power, Japanese companies accounted for six of the world's top ten semiconductor companies. In this era, even Americans have both respect and fear for Japan's semiconductor industry.

It is said that at a sales meeting, Andy Grove, who was short and unassuming, said in a long tone with his Hungarian accent: "Intel is the last hope for the American electronics industry to meet the Japanese electronics industry." ”

At that moment, hundreds of young men and women from Intel were enthusiastic. It seems that he is attracted by a common destiny and is willing to sacrifice a qiē to complete a sacred mission, just like a battle of life and death!

Different from outsiders' imagination, Intel's interior is not luxurious, and even a little simple, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove led Lin Johnson and Li Jing to take a brief tour, they looked at the second floor of Intel's headquarters, the simple large room design is no different from other companies, making it difficult for Lin Johnson to believe that this is the overlord of the processor industry in his mind.

Afterwards. They arrived at Gordon Moore's office of more than ten square meters, which is said to be the largest office in the company, and the four of them looked a little cramped, and it really looked like a secret meeting behind closed doors.

Andy Grove has always been known for being strict, under his leadership Intel employees have to register themselves for tardiness, he himself has registered, and he also asked employees to show "125%" enthusiasm for work, Grove era, Intel was called "Silicon Valley's sweatshop" by the industry.

Grove said directly to Lin Johnson: "Mr. Lin, the memory business is still Intel's main industry. Therefore, when the two sides do not reach an actual intention, I hope that you will not disclose the content of our negotiations to the outside world! ”

Lin Qiangsheng and Li Jing glanced at each other, and then turned to look at Grove and Gordon Moore, the two in front of them were the founders of Intel. There is also a Neuss who has stepped down. It turned out to be just a legendary character, but this time he was really sitting in front of him, which made Lin Qiangsheng a little distracted for a while.

"Mr. Lin?" Grove's voice raised slightly.

Lin Qiangsheng came to his senses, looked at Grove and Gordon Moore fixedly, ignored Li Jing, who was looking at him in surprise, and said, "I'm sorry two." I've heard too many of your previous legends, but this time I've finally met a real person! Rest assured, I won't reveal the conversation between us, nor will I reveal your plans to sell your memory business. ”

Moore was very happy and said, "Mr. Lin, thank you!" After all, the memory business is still Intel's main industry, and many people have a hard time understanding the sale of this division! ”

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Qiangsheng and said with a smile: "I also know some of your deeds, you resolutely came to the United States at a young age to pan for gold, invest in the financial world, and then enter the semiconductor field and the personal computer market, and have achieved success in these aspects, which is very remarkable!" ”

He pointed to Lin Qiangsheng's computer and said, "You created a vertical chassis, which is eye-catching!" Now our company's computers are laid out in this way, which is indeed very convenient, making personal computers more modern, more fashionable and cooler! ”

Lin Qiangsheng thanked Gordon Moore: "Thank you for your compliment, creating products that satisfy customers has always been my principle!" ”

He looked at Gordon Moore's split computer, and then said to the two: "Although I think Intel is the right choice to give up the memory business and concentrate on developing microprocessors!" But without your consent, I will never disclose this news to the outside world, please rest assured! ”

Then, he asked Gordon Moore and Grove, "So I have a question, two gentlemen, what kind of price do you plan to sell Intel's memory division?" ”

Moore and Grove looked at each other, they were very strange, how did the young man in front of them know that they wanted to concentrate on microprocessors?!

The idea of selling the memory division was the idea that began in the middle of the year, and now only a few people at the top of the company know about the plan. Since RAM memory is Intel's starting product, it is difficult for many people in the company to accept the sale of this business, but Moore and Grove also know that it is time to make a choice, and only the development of microprocessors requires most of the effort, and Intel no longer has the strength to do so!

In 1980, Intel had a crisis, when the Japanese semiconductor industry rose and entered the U.S. market in a big way, and Intel's memory was severely impacted at that time, but fortunately, due to Grove's strong management policy, the company finally supported it. However, due to this crisis, IBM itself did not value Intel, and because the memory market was hit by Japanese goods, Intel, which was still a memory manufacturer at the time, suffered a lot of losses, so IBM sold 20% of its shares in Intel that year.

I don't know if IBM has ever regretted it, "There was once a sincere love in front of me, I didn't cherish it, and I regretted it when I lost it, and the saddest thing in the world is nothing more than this!" ”

Intel struggled to survive the crisis, but in 1982, the 80286 processor came out to save the company. In October of this year, the 80386 was about to go into production again, and both Moore and Grove felt that their microprocessor business was mature, and they both believed that the personal computer industry had a fairly bright future, so they decided to abandon the RAM memory business.

In fact, it is not the first time Intel has made such an ambitious move, in the early 70s of the last century, electronic watches were regarded as high-tech products at that time, and the average price of electronic watches could reach 200 US dollars at the beginning.

Intel also sees a business opportunity and intends to enter the electronic watch market, but its ambitions are too small!

So Intel acquired an electronic watch company called Mira, and figured out the LCD technology and its own chip technology of Guò to open up a world of electronic watches!

But God does not fulfill people's wishes, because of the god-damn Japanese manufacturers, after Intel entered the market, a large number of Japanese LCD poured in, LCD prices fell rapidly, the price of electronic watches that could be sold for 200 US dollars, quickly fell to about 10 US dollars in two years, and the large-scale production of Japanese companies made the price of products fall rapidly and hugely.

At that time, how did Japan feel like China, and the product was the price of cabbage!

Intel then withdrew from the watch industry in 1978 and sold the mira to a Swiss company. (To be continued.) )