82. Bob really thought: Moore quoted in Bob Ristleheuber [sic], “Noyce Remembered: Unusual Ideas, Unusual Approaches,” Electronic News, 11 June 1990, 4. Too nice to too many people: Harry Sello, interview by author. You could get him to say yes: Charlie Sporck, interview by author.
83. Produced entrepreneurs, not products: Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., “The Information Age in Historical Perspective,” introduction to Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. and James W. Cortada, eds., A Nation Transformed by Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000): 31. By the end of Noyce’s tenure at Fairchild, one reporter could write that the company “seemed dedicated to technology for its own sake. … At Fairchild, it almost seemed that no engineer wanted to be in production.” (Erickson, “How Hogan Rescued Fairchild,” 22.)
84. Gave up and tried again: Noyce quoted in McIlheny, “Dissatisfaction as a Spur to Career,” 15 Dec. 1976. One thing I learned: Robert Noyce, interview by Mary Burt Baldwin, transcript, IA.
Chapter 7: Startup
1. On rumors: Electronic News throughout July 1968. The industry has devoured: Advertisement in Electronic News, 3 Oct. 1968.
2. Bob is having a harrowing time: Betty Noyce quoted in Harriet Noyce to Bob Noyce, undated (but clearly summer, 1968), IA. Startled Noyce out of bed: Noyce in Bill Davidow, Eugene Flath, and Robert Noyce, Oral History, 13 Aug. 1983, IA (henceforth Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history). Back you financially: Dot [Noyce’s assistant] to Noyce, 1 July 1968, ASB.
3. Noyce did little: See, for example, Hoefler, “Dr. Noyce Happy Doing His Thing,” Electronic News, 28 Oct. 1968. Pushing more and more paper: “Resignations Shake Up Fairchild,” San Jose Mercury, 4 July 1968. When asked why: Cook, “Sherman Fairchild’s July 4th Fizzles,” Electronic News.
4. Practically unobserved: Interview with Dr. Gordon Moore, 6/29/94, IA. Wouldn’t have any trouble: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA. It’s about time: Arthur Rock speaking at Computer History Museum’s venture capital panel, 30 Sept. 2002.
5. Weekends spent painting the windows: Bob White, interview by author.
6. Does it for the fish: Paul Hwoschinsky, interview by author.
7. Whatever you’re planning to do: Andy Grove, interview by author. Human resources manager: Les Vadasz, interview by Evan Ramstad.
8. Instead of drawing the people closer together: Noyce quoted in “Industry Leaders Join in Kennedy Tributes,” Electronic News, 10 June 1968. On Kennedy assassination: Bob Graham, interview by Charlie Sporck.
9. Let people bite into each other, did not argue: Andy Grove, interview by author. On Grove’s life: Andy Grove, Swimming Across: A Memoir, (New York: Warner Books, 2002). Graduated first in his class: Nilo Lindgren, “Building a Rational Two-Headed Monster: The Management Style of Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore,” Innovation (no date, but clearly 1970).
10. We don’t care: Bill Noyce, interview by author. It’s very comfortable: “Interview with Dr. Gordon Moore,” 29 June 1994, IA. Pay cut: Robert Noyce, “Innovation: Nothing to Fear but Fear” [summary of his presentation at the MIT symposium on the management of innovation], Technology Review, Feb. 1977.
11. Represented a sizable portion: Arthur Rock, interview by author. Concentrated in Fairchild stock: Noyce to Sherman Fairchild.
12. Breakdown of startup expenses: “Proposed Use of Proceeds,” IA. Noyce could not resist: Gaylord Noyce, interview by author.
13. Silicon suppliers reported: “Silicon Usage Pushes Suppliers; Deliveries Stretch to 4 Months,” Electronic News, 4 Aug. 1969.
14. Cartoon: “Where the Action is in Electronics,” Business Week, 4 Oct. 1969, 86–87. A closer look at the cartoon reveals that this activity is actually being witnessed by a man peering through a microscope at the inner workings of an integrated circuit. Rather than magnifying a cluster of transistors and other circuit components, the microscope reveals this frenzied world.
15. Attendance at a session: Don Hoefler, “Engineers Jam Business Panel,” Electronic News, 25 Aug. 1969; “Wescon Session to Spotlight Financial Needs of Start-Ups,” Electronic News, 18 Aug. 1969.
16. Moore’s Law: Gordon Moore, “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits,” Electronics, 19 April 1965: 114–117. Already Moore’s own R&D group: Reid, The Chip, 128.
17. Noyce predicted: Noyce quoted in “Turning a Science into an Industry,” IEEE Spectrum, Jan. 1966, 102.
18. Technology looking for applications: Moore in Moore, Vadasz, Parker oral history.
19. We have no idea: Harriet Noyce to Bob Noyce, undated (but clearly summer, 1968), IA.
20. On Noyce’s activities at the start of Intel: Noyce 1968 datebook, ASB; Noyce to Frank Roberts [attorney], 20 July 1968.
21. Jay Last’s Teledyne rented: “Antenna—Can’t Keep a Good Man Down,” Electronic News, 17 Nov. 1969. Carter’s firm was called “Carter Semiconductor of Hong Kong.” It received somewhere around 100 million transistor dice in 1969 from Raytheon. Schools weren’t turning out: Noyce, “Machine that Changed the World,” transcript, IA.
22. We are only going to hire perfect people: Bill Noyce, interview by author. Fairchild circus: Noyce 1968 datebook.
23. Noyce on East Coast: Scandling, “2 of Founders Leave Fairchild.” Like Pied Piper: Roger Borovoy, interview by author. Please drop a note with qualifications: “Every Pinhole Counts!” Undated advertisement (but obviously from 1968), IA.
24. Gordon and I have left: Jim Angell, interview by author. Could tell whether a computer program: Jim Angell, interview by author.
25. If you’re in academia: Ted Hoff, interview by author.
26. Noyce-Hoff interview: Ted Hoff, interview by author.
27. Get close to advanced technology: Robert Noyce to Sherman Fairchild, 25 June 1968. No one knew the business better, could sell Intel to a computer company: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA.
28. Do quite well, I felt I was young: Ted Hoff, interview by author.
29. Would wander through the neighborhood: Bob White, interview by author.
30. Sort of sexy, four had been taken: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history. Names under consideration: paper headed “Titles,” IA.
31. Implied other things: Robert Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA.
32. Man has to have killer instinct: Rock quoted in “Venture Capitalist with a Solid Intuition,” Business Week, 30 May 1970. The main thing is: Noyce quoted in Pete Carey, “The Hero of Venture Capitalists,” San Jose Mercury News, 19 Feb. 1978.
33. More detail on the Intel debentures: they had a ten-year term, paid 6 percent interest (waived for three years), and were convertible at $5 per share. “Fully subordinated to all indebtedness; non-callable for one year; sinking fund beginning in the fifth year to retire one-half of the outstanding debentures; anti-dilution protection against stock splits …; negative restriction against payment of dividends on common stock.” “Intel Corp $2,500,000 Convertible Debentures,” 1–2, IA.
34. Intended to fund: “Intel Corp $2,500,000 Convertible Debentures,” IA. Directors of the company did not participate in the plan.
35. Noyce had begun outlining: Jerome Dougherty [attorney] to Noyce, 18 July 1968, IA. Scientific Data Systems had given options: Arthur Rock, interview by author.
36. There are too many millionaires: Art Rock to Frank Roberts, 27 Aug. 1968, IA.
37. Every eligible employee: Noyce to shareholders, 25 April 1969, IA. Options on 64,700 shares: Intel Corporation Balance Sheet, 31 December 1968, IA.
38. Prudent man rule: The “prudent man” rule sharply limited pensions funds’ ability to invest in high-risk ventures. Beginning in 1979, with changes to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, pension funds were allowed to allocate up to 10 percent of assets in high-risk venture funds. Paul A. Gompers, “The Rise and Fall of Venture Capital,” Business and Economic History, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1992: 1. See also Bygrave and Timo
ns, Venture Capital at the Crossroads (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992). Offers of financial assistance: Charles J. Coronella to Noyce, 10 July 1968; Robert R. Barker to Noyce, 24 July 1968; John K. Koeneman to Noyce, 18 July 1968; Sterling Grumman to Noyce, 7 Aug. 1968; Elmor Howard to Noyce, 25 July 1968; Dick Hand to Noyce, 4 Dec. 1968. All ASB. Cook had recently offered Noyce and Moore the opportunity: Paul Cook, interview by author, 2 Feb. 1999; Gordon Moore, interview by author. Noyce proposed Sherman Fairchild: untitled page (clearly a list of potential investors) in Investors file, ASB.
39. Hoped the investment would generate $10 million: Joe Rosenfield to Sam Rosenthal, Don Wilson, and Warren Buffett, 17 April 1973, courtesy Warren Buffett. Betting on the jockey: Warren Buffett, interview by author, 28 Aug. 2002.
40. Business plan: “Intel Corp $2,500,000 Convertible Debentures,” IA. Didn’t want people to know: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA.
41. Kind of lined up: Rock quoted in Gene Bylinsky, “How Intel Won Its Bet on Memory Chips,” Fortune, Nov. 1973, 144. People had to return calls: Arthur Rock, interview by author.
42. Betty Moore received several calls: “Interview with Dr. Gordon Moore, 6/29/94,” IA. Keenly disappointed: Robert B. Barker to Bob Noyce, 24 July 1968. He told them Rock was in charge: Robert Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA.
43. Intel is probably the only company: Arthur Rock quoted in Udayan Gupta, ed., Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000).
44. Failures of companies: “Electronics Industry Failures Fall to Lowest Level Ever,” Electronic News, 10 June 1968. Age of Electro-Aquarius: “The Splintering of the Solid-State Electronics Industry.”
45. The last year: “Where the Action is in Electronics,” Business Week, Oct. 1969, 86. Market fully saturated: Jackson, Inside Intel, 47.
46. Participation in War on Poverty: Neil Kelly, “Coast Firms Eager in Poverty Fight,” Electronic News, 22 July 1968. Army’s computerized facility: Heather M. David, “Army Opens Riot Control Center,” Electronic News, 14 July 1969.
47. Knew Intel would lose money: “Intel Corp $2,500,000 Convertible Debentures,” IA. More aggressive: Gordon Moore, interview by author.
48. In early August, Noyce left: Noyce 1968 datebook, ASB Description of Maine house: author’s visit.
49. On Route 128: Saxenian, Regional Advantage. The whole concept of Intel: Dick Hodgson, interview by author.
50. So Betty’s home: Harriet Noyce to Bob Noyce, undated (but clearly summer, 1968), IA. Harriet thought Betty had made Bob overly interested in money: Penny Noyce, interview by author.
51. High muckety-mucks: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA. Professionally decorated: Jean Jones, interview by author. On arrangement of offices: Andy Grove, interview by author.
52. Cafeteria and communications center: Jean Jones to Dinah Lee, Subject: Admin SLRP, 9 April 1992, IA.
53. Sewer pipe running out to the street: Gordon Moore oral history, 17 Oct. 1983, IA.
54. Equivalent of a checkbook, I’ll have one of those: Gene Flath in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA
55. Betty Noyce had already announced: Ted Hoff, interview by author.
56. Gods of the industry: Tom Innes in Tom Innes and Tom Rowe oral history, IA.
57. $1,000 per month: Andy Grove in Ed Gelbach, Andy Grove, and Ted Jenkins oral history, 24 Oct. 1983, IA (henceforth Gelbach, Grove, Jenkins oral history). A lot of sex appeal, steering the future: John Reed, interview by author.
58. Two-headed monster: Lindgren, “Building a Rational Two-Headed Monster.” Senior executives from computer companies: Max Palevsky, who ran Scientific Data Systems, and Gerard Currie, who ran Data Technology.
59. On Intel’s strategy: Marian Jelinek and Claudia Bird Schoonhover, The Innovation Marathon: Lessons from High Technology Firms (Oxford:, OX, UK; Cambridge, Mass., USA: B. Blackwell, 1990) discuss this strategy at length.
60. Group think, a single yes: Noyce, “The Fruit of Success,” Chemtech, Dec. 1979.
61. Use money to buy time: Gene Flath, interview by author. A rifleman who shoots: Gordon Moore, “Intel—Memories and the Microprocessor,” Daedalus 125, Spring 1966: 55–80. In this article, Moore offers the following example of first-mover advantage: the 1101, Intel’s first MOS memory device, was initially designed to operate at standard power supply voltages of +5 and +12v. Intel soon discovered, however, that “12 volts was more than the device structure could handle.” Since no system had yet been built to use semiconductor memories, Intel was free to adjust the voltage, effectively decreeing that semiconductor memories would run at +5 and +9v—specifications that eventually became industry standards.
62. All we have to do: Noyce in Noyce, Davidow, Flath oral history, IA. Sold for about 4 percent: “Interview Robert Noyce—1973,” IA.
63. Core memories had netted: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, Computer, 167. In much the same way that Noyce at Fairchild and Kilby at Texas Instruments independently conceived and developed the integrated circuit, magnetic core (or ferrite) memories had been almost simultaneously developed by researchers at MIT, Harvard, and RCA in 1951. MIT was eventually awarded the patent.
64. Travel along ten square feet: Reid, The Chip, 128. In 1999, Arthur Rock jokingly estimated that it would take “the entire world’s population to string cores” for the number of computers in use at the turn of the twenty-first century. Arthur Rock, interview by author.
65. Formal product plans: Noyce 1968 datebook.
66. MOS: As historian Ross Bassett puts it, “If the classic definition of the bipolar transistor is a ‘sandwich,’ with the main effects happening at the intersection of the bread and the filling, the MOS transistor is more like a pizza, with the main effects happening at the surface.”
67. On the flip chip: Gordon Moore, interview by author; Barbara Eiler, interview by author. Eiler explains that the flip chip group was trying to eliminate the traditional bonding process, in which very small wires are attached from the package leads to special bonding pads on the chip. Barbara Eiler to author, 26 July 2004.
68. Why three-pronged approach: Gordon Moore, interview by author.
69. Using blown diodes: Ted Hoff, interview by author.
70. His questions were so perceptive: Ted Hoff, interview by author. He challenged you all the time: Les Vadasz, interview by Evan Ramstad.
71. Donald S. Noyce to Adam Noyce, 1 May 2002, GCA.
72. Noyce principle of minimum information: Gordon Moore, “Some Personal Perspectives on Research in the Semiconductor Industry,” in Rosenbloom and William J. Spencer, Engines of Innovation: U.S. Industrial Research at the End of an Era (Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 1996), 165–174. Five or six man years to design a circuit: Davidow, Flath, Noyce oral history.
73. Noyce calling Grove the whip: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA. It is tough for me to do the hard things: Kathy Cohen, interview by author. You had to do something: Rowe in Rowe and Innes oral history.
74. Best thing since the Pill: Tom Innes in Tom Innes and Tom Rowe oral history.
75. I don’t think I talked to Bob for months: Ann Bowers, interview by author, 5 Aug. 2004. I guess I officially reported to Bob: Roger Borovoy, interview by author. Nobody actually reported to Bob: Ann Bowers, interview by author, 16 Aug. 2004.
76. On Noyce-Moore-Grove relationship: Regis McKenna, interview by author.
77. Plain dumb luck: Noyce in “Machine That Changed the World,” IA. Self doubts, Faking It: Andy Grove in Gelbach, Grove, Jenkins oral history, IA.
78. Grove’s problems with Graham: Andy Grove, interview by author.
79. Graham’s problems with Grove: Bob Graham, interview by Charlie Sporck.
80. Enmity began to poison: Mike Markkula, interview by author.
Chapter 8: Takeoff
1. Noyce’s activities: 1968 and 1969 datebooks, ASB. An entry from 3 Oct. 1968 reads “Disclosure of
plans to customers.”
2. Nobody in the industry: Andy Grove, interview by author.
3. Family cutting rubylith: Bill Noyce, interview by author. They made one, they made one: Roger Borovoy, interview by author.
4. Began to talk of taking Intel public: Gordon Moore, interview by author. On Noyce’s concerns about stock options: Lindgren, “Building a Rational Two-Headed Monster.”
5. At prices that rivaled: Noyce to employees, 20 Oct. 1969, courtesy Ted Hoff.
6. Interesting transformation: Gordon Moore, interview by Adam Noyce, GCA.
7. Isn’t management, drastic effect, and I don’t get my kicks: Lindgren, “Building a Rational Two-Headed Monster.”
8. Revenue trickle: Gene Flath, interview by author.
9. Problems with the multichip: Tom Innes in Innes, Rowe oral history. Moore’s shock resistance test: Gordon Moore in Moore, Vadasz oral history, IA.
10. On the deposition: notation in Noyce datebook, 14 March 1969: “FCI Depositions”; Roger Borovoy, personal communication to author, 2 Apr. 2004. Evolutionary improvements: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, and Noyce oral history, IA.
11. There was no way: Roger Borovoy, interview by author.
12. Off and limping: the progress report is quoted in Davidow, Flath, Noyce oral history. Like peeling an onion: Tom Rowe quoted in Revolution in Progress (1983, internal Intel publication): 10. One day ho: 4 Nov. 1968 report quoted in Innes, Rowe oral history, IA.
13. Best news I’ve ever gotten, swamped with guilt: Noyce in Davidow, Flath, Noyce oral history.
14. Need is not for drill bits: Noyce, 1965 Kleiman interview.
15. Invention and development of the microprocessor: see, for example, Robert Noyce and Marcian E. Hoff, Jr. [Ted Hoff], “A History of Microprocessor Development at Intel,” IEEE Micro (Feb. 1981): 9; Frederico Faggin, “The Birth of the Microprocessor,” reprinted in Jay Ranade, Alan Nash, eds., Best of Byte (N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1994), 355; Aspray, “Social Construction of the Microprocessor.”
16. 500 inventors: Bill Davidow, interview by author. Intel patent issued to Hoff et al., patent #3,821,715, filed 22 Jan. 1973, granted 28 June 1974; Micro Computer patent issued to Gilbert Hyatt, patent #4,942,156, filed 28 Dec. 1970, granted 17 July 1990; Texas Instruments patent issued to Gary W. Boone, patent #3,757,306, filed 31 Aug. 1971, granted 4 Sept. 1973.
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