1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and I love 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: all things tech. And in our last episode, which was 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: requested by listener Stephen, I left off with a m 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: d's history in ninety six, when the company found itself 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: reeling when Intel decided to cut ties. Up to that point, 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: a m D had been in an agreement to act 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: as a second source for Intel designed chips. Intel would 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: get a licensing fee and a m D would be 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: able to manufacture chips based on Intel's designs. But when 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: a m D chips started to do better in performance 14 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: tests than the Intel originals, things changed. Until ended a 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: ten year agreement several years early, and the two companies 16 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: would enter into a lengthy court battle that would ultimately 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: go all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court. 18 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: But we've got a few years to get through before 19 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: we get to that. So Intel had introduced the eighty 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: three eighty six microprocessor in nineteen eighty five, a year 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: before it severed the agreement with a m D. The 22 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: three eight six, as it was known, was a thirty 23 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: two bit micro processor. It could run most older code 24 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,759 Speaker 1: designed for its predecessors, and was capable of faster clock rates, 25 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: meaning it could run more operations per second, and it 26 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: had a greater data bandwidth, which means it could run 27 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: operations on larger amounts of information than the earlier chips could. 28 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: Intel an a m D had set the stage for 29 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: creating the standard in computer processing, and now Intel was 30 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: determined to stand alone. A m D, for its part, 31 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: have been designing its own version of the three eight six, 32 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: called the get Ready for It a M three eight six, 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: but Intel's decision to end the agreement through things into disarray. 34 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: Intel argued that their agreement with a m D only 35 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: covered the eight eighty six through the e D two 36 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: eighty six family of micro processors, and that the three 37 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: eight six and later iterations were excluded. A and D 38 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: obviously disagreed with this interpretation of their agreement, claiming that 39 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: all x eighty six derivatives were covered under this ten 40 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: year plan that they had struck with Intel back in 41 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. At this same time, things were shifting 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: in the PC market. You might remember from my episode 43 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 1: about early computer systems that there used to be a 44 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: ton of different types of PCs on the market in 45 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: the late seventies and early eighties, each with its own 46 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: hardware and operating system. The ones we think about today 47 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: are Windows based machines and Mac computers as far as 48 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,239 Speaker 1: personal machines are concerned. But up through the early nineteen eighties, 49 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: the field was much more crowded. You had companies like Tandy, Commodore, 50 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: and Amiga and others competing with Apple and IBM. However, 51 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: by the mid nineteen eighties the field had thinned out significantly. 52 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: IBM had secured valuable deals with corporations, becoming known as 53 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: the computer of choice for office workstations. Apple maintained a 54 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: more niche market of users interested in the creative power 55 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: of the Macintosh. Everyone else sort of began to fade away, 56 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: and this left the IBM PC and it's compatible clones 57 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: with the lion's share of the market. In fact, by 58 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: the time Intel was trying to block a m D, 59 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: the IBM PC market share had grown to about eighty 60 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: four percent of all personal computers, so this was a 61 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: really big deal. A m D had helped cement the 62 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,839 Speaker 1: X eight six chip as the go to microprocessor for computers, 63 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: and now it looks like Intel was going to run 64 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: away with the whole thing. Things were starting to smell 65 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: a little anti competitive. Am D did still have an 66 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: agreement to the underlying instruction set for the X eight 67 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: six family of processors, so in some respects a m 68 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: D was still in the game, but Intel wasn't going 69 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: to share the actual physical design of the three six 70 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: microprocessor with a m D. So the engineers at a 71 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: m D set out to reverse engineer the three six 72 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: and build their own version of it while the legal 73 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: battle continued in the courts. Reverse engineering alone is a 74 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: pretty fascinating subject. The basic concept is fairly intuitive. You 75 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: take a technology and you examine it closely and you 76 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: figure out what makes it tick, how does the tech 77 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: actually do whatever it does. Then you go back and 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: you build your own version of that technology based upon 79 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: your understanding of how the starting example worked. So you're 80 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: not starting off with some sort of blueprint or set 81 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: of plans or instructions. You're sussing it out on your 82 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 1: own based on existing instances of the technology. So it's 83 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: a bit like detective work. Between reverse engineering and the 84 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: legal battles. It would be years before a m D 85 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: could bring its own three eight six chips to market. 86 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: The company began releasing its version starting in nineteen, and 87 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: once again a m D S version of Intel's chips 88 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: were clocking in at a faster clock rate than the competition. 89 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 1: Intel's three eight six chips maxed out at thirty three 90 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 1: mega hurts, whereas a m D S could hit forty 91 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: mega hurts. The legal battles continued, and a m D 92 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: began to invest in designing its own microcode for chips. 93 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 1: Intel's next microprocessor was predictably the eight four eight six, 94 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: and a m D created its own version the A 95 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: M four eight six. Some A M for eight six 96 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: chips had Intel microcode from the x A D six 97 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: agreement and others had a m D microcode, making it 98 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: a little confusing, and all of them were outpacing Intel's 99 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: version of the same chip. Even the top of the 100 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: line microprocessor in Intel's forty six line was left behind. 101 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: The fastest four D six from Intel had the top 102 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: clock speed of one hundred mega hurts. A m D 103 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: S version was able to reach speeds of one D 104 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: twenty mega hurts. Now this was in When that legal 105 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: battle I talked about finally concluded, the courts found in 106 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: favor of A m D, granting the company some royalty 107 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: free use of some of Intel's patents and awarding A 108 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: m D millions of dollars in the process. But the 109 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: whole endeavor had taught the engineers at A m D 110 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: a valuable lesson. While they had won this battle, there 111 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: was no guarantee that things would remain stable between Intel 112 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: and a m D, so the company did release another 113 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: x E D six derived chip. This one was called 114 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: the A m D five x eight six, or five 115 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: by eighty six if you wanted to think of it 116 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: that way. And you may be thinking, ha, I never 117 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: heard of a five eight six computer. I'm pretty sure 118 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: that Intel switched over from four A D six to pentium, 119 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: and you would be right. The A m D five 120 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: x eight six chip was based off the same architecture 121 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: as the A M four eight six microprocessor, but it 122 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: did manage an even faster clock speed out of the box. 123 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: It was a hundred thirty Mega hurts, but original equipment 124 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: manufacturers or o e m s in the biz could 125 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: get an even faster version than maxed out at a 126 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: hundred fifty Mega hurts now according to Tom's Hardware, a website, 127 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: which is, by the way, a great resource if you 128 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: ever want to learn everything there is to know about 129 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: just about any computer component you can think of. The 130 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: A M four, A D six, and the five X 131 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: eighty six processors also moved the floating point unit or 132 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: FPU over to the central processing unit or CPU itself. 133 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: Up until then, it had been customary to have separate 134 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: CPUs and FPUs that would connect to each other through 135 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: the motherboard. So I guess it's time to give a 136 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: quick explanation about what these things actually mean. The CPU, 137 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: I'm sure you've all heard of, right, It's sort of 138 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: the head manager of your computer. It executes basic instructions. 139 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: In the event that the instructions require the use of 140 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: a specialized chip like a graphics processing unit also known 141 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: as a GPU, the CPU can delegate those tasks to 142 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,720 Speaker 1: the appropriate hardware. It's a high functioning component of a computer. 143 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: We often refer to it as the brains of the computer, 144 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: but really it's just calling the shots at the highest level. 145 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: The floating point unit carries out instructions on what are 146 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: called floating point numbers. A floating point number is a 147 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: workaround for a particular problem, which is how a computer 148 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: represents real numbers. The range of real numbers is infinite, 149 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: but a computer can't handle that. A computer has a 150 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: limited capacity, so programmers use floating point numbers, so called 151 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: because the decimal point has no fixed number of digits 152 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: that have to appear before or after it. This allows 153 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: programmers to represent numbers separated by many orders of magnitude. 154 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: You can have incredibly large numbers paired with incredibly small 155 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: numbers using this approach. UH typically you would use a 156 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:25,319 Speaker 1: variant of scientific notation for those really big or really 157 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: small numbers. However, this does mean that much of the 158 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: work computers do happens as approximations rather than as precise calculations, 159 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,559 Speaker 1: and this introduces the possibility of error. The more you 160 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: are approximating something, the less accurate or precise it's going 161 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: to be, particularly as you perform more calculations based on 162 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: previous approximations. As these approximations start to add up, you 163 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: can potentially get further and further away from a correct 164 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: or true answer. But never mind that that's a discussion 165 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: for a different episode. Now, after the four a D six, 166 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: Intel came out with the first Pentium processor. So why 167 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: did Intel change things up? Why did Intel go from 168 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 1: four D six to pentium? Because the Pentium still followed 169 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: the x A D six architecture and instruction set and 170 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: spoiler alert, so do today's computers. So why would Intel 171 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: choose pentium instead of sticking with the naming convention it 172 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: had created. Why wasn't it the five eight six? Well, 173 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: the main reason was, as I'm sure many of you 174 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: have guessed that companies like A m D were the 175 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: cause of this. Intel decided because of a m D, 176 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: Intel couldn't trademark a number. Intel couldn't have five eighty 177 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: six trademarked. You can't just trademarket basic number like that. 178 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: So if it had stuck with the numbering system, a 179 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: m D could then come out with its A m 180 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: D five a D six and with its reputation for 181 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: outpacing Intel's comparable chips, that could hurt Intel's sales. But Pentium, 182 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:02,439 Speaker 1: that was different because Pentium was a name. You can 183 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: trademark a name, and that's what Intel did. It trademarked 184 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: the term pentium, which prevented a m D and other 185 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: competitors from using that name on their own chips. So 186 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: now it added a marketing concern for these competitors. How 187 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: would they be able to market their own chips and 188 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: compare them against Intel's chips without using a trademarked name 189 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: that they did not have the rights to. It was 190 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: kind of throwing a monkey wrench into things. Now. The 191 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: way companies got around this was to include a number 192 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: that they referred to as PR, which essentially stood for 193 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: pentium rating. The number next to the PR designation would 194 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: indicate the comparable pentium clock speed that the chip in 195 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: question would be most like. So if you came out 196 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: with a microchip and you gave it a PR rating 197 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: of one hundred, what that tells the end consumer is 198 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 1: that the chip you have put out is equivalent to 199 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: an Intel pentium processor that has a clock speed of 200 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: one mega hurts. So it's kind of a way of 201 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: getting around the fact that they could not call their 202 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: own chips their variance of the Pendium processor. Now it 203 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: was clear that Intel was going to put up a 204 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: fight and resist as much as it could. It would 205 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: make little sense for a m D to depend solely 206 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: upon being a second source for Intel. Chips, particularly when 207 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: Intel wasn't really interested in cooperating fully, and so A 208 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: m D began work on designing its own x eight 209 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: six based microprocessor, which would be released in n and 210 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: it became known as the A m D K five. 211 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: Well why was it called the K five? Well, by 212 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: A m D s reckoning, it represented the fifth generation 213 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: microprocessor family that A m D had built, the other 214 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: four being second source Intel chips, but the K five 215 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 1: was a totally new architecture that was based on the 216 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: x A D six instruction set. So why the K Well, 217 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: because K is also the letter that starts the word kryptonite, 218 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: the substance that could bring down Superman. And I think 219 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: we can all guess who was Superman in this particular scenario. 220 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: A m D designed the K five entirely in house, 221 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: and it was the first x A D six processor 222 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: from A m D to have architecture designed by the 223 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: A m D team itself, as opposed to either following 224 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: Intel's detailed instructions to make a clone of their chips 225 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: or through reverse engineering and existing Intel microchip. The K 226 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: five copied some elements from the earlier A M twenty 227 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: nine thousand microprocessor that was a risk or R I 228 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: s C microchip the company made a few years earlier. 229 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: I talked about that in the previous episode, and I 230 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: think that was a pretty good choice. It gave them 231 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: a starting point to work from, and they were able 232 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:06,439 Speaker 1: to really build on that and make a success out 233 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: of it. The K five's design was a little bit complicated, 234 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: and that placed limits on how much clock speed a 235 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: m D could get out of it. But at the 236 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: same time, the A m D engineers had made the 237 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: operations really efficient, so while it might have a technically 238 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: lower clock speed than a competing microprocessor, this increased efficiency 239 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: helped balance things out so that at the end result 240 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: it seemed like the K five was actually faster than 241 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: its counterparts that technically had higher clock speeds. Yes, the 242 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: other microprocessors could run more operations per second, but K 243 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: five's efficiency was such that was able to make up 244 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: for that lost ground. Now, when we come back, i'll 245 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: talk more about a m d s experiences in the 246 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties and beyond, but first let's take a quick break. 247 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: A m D would follow up the K five with 248 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: a microprocessor called the now wait for it, the Case six, 249 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: But the K six wasn't designed by a m D engineers, 250 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: nor did it follow the K five architecture. Instead, A 251 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: m D acquired another microchip manufacturing company called next Gen 252 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: an e x G E N. Next Gen was getting 253 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: ready to release a CPU it called the n X 254 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: six eight six, but then A m D swooped in, 255 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: bought up next Gen, and then repurpose the as yet 256 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: unreleased n X six eight six to become the K six. 257 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: A m D marketed it as an alternative for Intel's 258 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: Pentium two processor, claiming that for less money you could 259 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: get the same level of performance, and that was mostly true, 260 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 1: though the Pentium two had some advantages over the Case six, 261 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: namely a better math coprocessor or FPU. At this point, 262 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: the K six and the variance I'll talk about in 263 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: a second we're still compatible with Intel designed motherboards. The 264 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: Case six was also cheaper than the pent Um two chips, 265 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: and so the Case six became a popular choice for 266 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: both O E M s and people building their own machines. 267 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: A m D would follow up the Case six with 268 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: the Case six two and the Case six three in nine. 269 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: The Case six three paired two hundred fifty six L 270 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: two cash memory on the CPU die in an effort 271 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: to speed up processing and increasing the amount of data 272 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: the CPU could access at any given time. The Case 273 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: six too, was phenomenally successful, so much so that some 274 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: analysts estimated that seventy percent of the under one thousand 275 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 1: dollar PC market in nine had a m D K 276 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: six two chips powering them. So, if you were building 277 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: a computer on a budget and you wanted to get 278 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: the most umph for your dollars, chances are you were 279 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: going with a m D. The company would also release 280 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,440 Speaker 1: the Case six two plus in the Case six three 281 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: plus in two thousands. These were microprocessors meant specifically for 282 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: the mobile market, and they'd be the final entries in 283 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: the Case six line of CPUs. Meanwhile, Jerry Sanders, whom 284 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: you might remember from the first episode, he was the 285 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: first president of a m D. He was a co 286 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: founder and at this point was the CEO of the company, 287 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: was riding high. He predicted astronomical share prices for the 288 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: company in the near future. He continued the company's practice 289 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: of building fabrication plants at a breakneck pace. He was 290 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 1: building plants to manufacture microprocessors and semiconductor chips all over 291 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: the world. A m D had been incredibly aggressive in 292 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: building and staffing these fabrication facilities in order to meet 293 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: the demand for microprocessors and actually to anticipate the next 294 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: demand for them, and Sanders had adopted a reportedly lavish lifestyle, 295 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 1: maintaining an off us in Beverly Hills, which is pretty 296 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: darn far from Silicon Valley and the headquarters of a 297 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,359 Speaker 1: m D. I guess he never really gave up his 298 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: dream of going into the recording industry, but a lavish 299 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: lifestyle might be fine if things continued to go well 300 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: for the company, and sadly that would not be the case. 301 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,199 Speaker 1: Sanders spending also seemed to trickle its way into the 302 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: corporate culture of a m D overall, with executives and 303 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: high ranking salesforce professionals spending greater amounts of money to 304 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: curate an image of luxury and sophistication. Spending was getting 305 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: out of hand, and a lot of that spending had 306 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:40,400 Speaker 1: to do with those fabrication facilities. According to Autika Raza, 307 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,959 Speaker 1: who had led next Gen before a m D had 308 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: acquired that company and then later became the president and 309 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 1: chief operating officer or CEO of a m D. Sanders 310 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: was in a bad habit of building fabrication facilities too 311 00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: far in advance, at least according to Raza's analysis. His perspective, 312 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: that is, Roza's perspective, was that the company should hold 313 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: off building new facilities until the need was there. Sanders 314 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: was building them ahead of the game, but that would 315 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: mean that a m D was constantly raising money to 316 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: build out the next facility in advance of any revenue 317 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,919 Speaker 1: it was generating, and if the industry were to ever dip, 318 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: then it would leave a m D over extended. So 319 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: Raza wanted to take a different route. He wanted to 320 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: use revenues from current successes to fuel expansion on an 321 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: as needed basis. In other words, you don't need to 322 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: go out and build a new fabrication plant until the 323 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: demand requires you to do it. Raza, who at one 324 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: time had been viewed as a potential successor to Sanders, 325 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: found himself in direct disagreement with the founder, and he 326 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: would actually leave a m D in n reportedly after 327 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 1: a massive falling out with Sanders, with whom he would 328 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: never speak again. Now his successor was a guy named 329 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: Hector Ruez, who had up to that time been heading 330 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: up a division over at Motorola. Ruez was first wary 331 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: of taking this job. It was more technically oriented industry 332 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: than he had been used to, and he knew about 333 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: Sanders and his reputation of alienating senior level staff. And 334 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: he saw that there had been a string of chief 335 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: operating officers, several of whom were rumored to be groomed 336 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 1: as the heir apparent to a m D who had 337 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,640 Speaker 1: subsequently left the company. But he figured that Sanders might 338 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 1: have issues relinquishing control to others, that this could cause issues, 339 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: but Sanders was still a very impressive person. A m 340 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: D was an impressive company, so Hector decided to take 341 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,879 Speaker 1: the job. Then Jerry Sanders would retire in the early 342 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: two thousand's and Ruez would take over the company, and 343 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,639 Speaker 1: he began to clean house. He got rid of several 344 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: top executives who had been around for quite some time 345 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: in the Sanders era, and he started bring in new people, 346 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: new talent. So Ruiz also saw that the market was changing, 347 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: and while a m D was being innovative in CPUs 348 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: and other microchips meant for personal computers, it was really 349 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: making most of its profits from selling flash memory not CPUs, 350 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: and so he started to refocus the company to that endeavor, 351 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: but he also found that a m D was holding 352 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: an odd place in the market. Ruez would write a 353 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 1: book about his experiences, stating that Sanders had created this 354 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,439 Speaker 1: sort of weird paradox in a m D because Sanders 355 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: had a real can do attitude, a a never say 356 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: die approach to business. But at the same time, no 357 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: one in the company ever seemed convinced that a m 358 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: D could really go toe to toe with Intel, that 359 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,400 Speaker 1: a m D would always be a tiny company compared 360 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 1: to Intel, that could never really take over as the 361 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: leading microchip manufacturer in the industry. That that was just 362 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: sort of this underlineing philosophy at a m D. And 363 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,640 Speaker 1: as possibly because a m D had built its business 364 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,400 Speaker 1: largely on being a second source chip company. So Rule 365 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: has tried to change things, directing a m d s 366 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: efforts at not just flash memory, but also developing premium 367 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: processors for stuff like Internet servers, which were just starting 368 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: to become a serious thing at the time. Now, around 369 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: that same time, a m D and Intel faced off 370 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: again in courtrooms. This time it was in the European Union. 371 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,199 Speaker 1: A m D complained to the European Commission that Intel 372 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: was engaging in anti competitive behavior, violating the law, primarily 373 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: through what am D described as abusive marketing campaigns. A 374 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: m D even tried to use legal means to secure 375 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: documents from a separate case against Intel. This one was 376 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: brought against Intel by a company called Intergraph. But then 377 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: the Intergraph case eventually settled out of court and things 378 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 1: were obviously still very choppy between a m D and Intel, 379 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: despite the fact that they still had this cross licensing agreement. 380 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: The next chip from a m D, the Case seven, 381 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: better known as the Athlon processor, changed things up again. 382 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: Now the details get pretty technical, but an easy thing 383 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: to understand is that the company was able to push 384 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: clock rates up to one giga hurts. A m D 385 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: also began to manufacture its own motherboards, anticipating that the 386 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: day might come when compatibility with Intel's motherboards would come 387 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: to an end. So, hey, what the heck is a motherboard? 388 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: I mentioned it a couple of times in this episode. 389 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: A motherboard is just a printed circuit board. It's sort 390 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: of the highway system for information inside a computer. The 391 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: motherboard typically has connectors into which you can plug other 392 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: circuits like a CPU as a circuit, so you can 393 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: plug a CPU into a motherboard or a GPU a 394 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: graphics processing unit. The motherboard provides the physical connections between 395 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: all these different components so that these circuits can send 396 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,360 Speaker 1: proper command ends to the right places. Now, not all 397 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: CPUs or GPUs for that matter, are compatible with all motherboards. 398 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: Motherboards can accept certain types of CPUs and not others, 399 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,679 Speaker 1: and that's one of the reasons it's really important to 400 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 1: research first before you set out to build your first computer. 401 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,160 Speaker 1: It's entirely possible to pick up sweet components that look 402 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: great on paper but ultimately won't work together because they're incompatible. 403 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: So a m D set out to build its own 404 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: computer platform. But in this case, Intel was able to 405 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: outperform a m D. While a m d S processors 406 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: were blazing, the motherboard chip set as a whole wasn't 407 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: quite able to match Intel's four four zero b X component. Still, 408 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: it showed that a m D was going to push 409 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: hard to compete with Intel. A m D also introduced 410 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,880 Speaker 1: a new line of chips designed for entry level machines. 411 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: These were running on a similar architecture as the Athalon processors, 412 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: but that will lower clock speed. They called the new 413 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:05,400 Speaker 1: line of processors DURAN, and they competed against Intel's Cellern 414 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,639 Speaker 1: line of processors meant for the same market. A m 415 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: D upgraded the Athlon family steadily year over year with 416 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: names like Thunderbird, Palomino, Thoroughbred, and Barton. With each chip, 417 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:18,959 Speaker 1: a m D built upon what it had learned from 418 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: the previous generation. The components sizes got smaller, Thoroughbred and 419 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: Barton were built using a one thirty nanometer process and 420 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: the clock speeds were climbing past two giga hurts. A 421 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: m D was optimizing the architecture for memory access. Things 422 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: were going pretty smoothly, and then a m D dropped 423 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: a bombshell. The company that had built a business out 424 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: of being a second source chip manufacturer actually beat Intel 425 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: to the punch by releasing the first consumer oriented sixty 426 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: four bit x eight six processor, the Athalon sixty four. Now, 427 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: I've been explaining a lot of basic computer concepts here, 428 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: so why not include sixty four bit? Ver is thirty 429 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: two bit? So the consumer focused processors up to that 430 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: point where thirty two bit processors. That means the processors 431 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: were able to work with data units that were thirty 432 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: two bits wide. Now, remember a bit is a single 433 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: unit of information. It can be either a zero or 434 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: a one. Eight bits is a byte or an octet, 435 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: and thirty two bits would be four octets wide. A 436 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: thirty two bit system can handle a range of two 437 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: to the thirty second power number of values. So if 438 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,119 Speaker 1: we want to describe all the values that a thirty 439 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: two bit number can describe, and we start with the 440 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: number zero, we would go all the way up to 441 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: four billion, two hundred ninety four million, nine hundred sixty 442 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,159 Speaker 1: seven thousand, two hundred nine five. That's the range of 443 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: values a thirty two bit system can handle. Now, as 444 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: the name implies, a sixty four bit system can handle 445 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: a data width of sixty four bits, And you might 446 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: be tempted to think that that means it can handle 447 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: twice as much data as a thirty two bit system, 448 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: but that's not how binary works. A sixty four bit 449 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,199 Speaker 1: system can handle a value range of two to the 450 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: sixty four power of values, which is more than eighteen 451 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: quintillion values. That is a very big number, much much 452 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: bigger than the eight and a half billion or so 453 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,440 Speaker 1: that would be twice the thirty two bit range values, 454 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: so you're not talking about doubling, you're talking much much 455 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: larger than that. So a sixty four bit system can 456 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: perform many more calculations per second. It can also support 457 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 1: more RAM. A thirty two bit system maxes out at 458 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: four gigabytes of RAM, or two to the thirty second 459 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: power bytes of memory. A sixty four bit system would 460 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:51,320 Speaker 1: max out at least in theory at eighteen XO bytes 461 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: of RAM, which I can't describe as anything other than 462 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: a crap ton of random access memory. But six four 463 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: bit CPUs can't quite reach that theoretical limit, and they 464 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: max out in the terrabyte scale, not the exo byte scale. Still, 465 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,360 Speaker 1: that's a lot more memory than thirty two bit systems 466 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: can handle. Now, sixty four bit systems had been around 467 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: since the nineteen sixties, but had only seen use in 468 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: academic settings and internally in various companies. No one had 469 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,479 Speaker 1: yet made a sixty four bit processor for the general 470 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: public before A. M D and Microsoft released a sixty 471 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,919 Speaker 1: four bit version of Windows that such processors could leverage. 472 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: And just to be clear, a thirty two bit system 473 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: can't run sixty four bit software, but most sixty four 474 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: bit systems can run either a thirty two bit or 475 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: a sixty four bit version of operating systems. Now, I've 476 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: got some more to say about what a m D 477 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: has been up to, but first let's take another quick break. 478 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: Am D, for the first time, had been the first 479 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: to market with a microchip innovation. This led to Intel 480 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,800 Speaker 1: licensing the sixty four bit instruction set from a m D. 481 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: Ah how the tables have turned Now, Intel, so used 482 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: to being the entity to define standards was instead having 483 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: to follow the lead of the upstart company. No never 484 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 1: mind that both Intel and am D had been around 485 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: since the late nineteen sixties, and a m D was 486 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: really just a year younger than Intel was. I can 487 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: only imagine things were tense in some of those meetings 488 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: over at Intel headquarters, and a m D wasn't done 489 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: knocking the socks off computer nerds like me. In two 490 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: thousand five, the company released the athlont X two micro processor, 491 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 1: which was the first x a D six dual core processor. Now, 492 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: these days, multi core processors are the norm for many 493 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: computer systems and even handheld devices, but this was brand 494 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: new for the consumer market back in two thousand five, 495 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 1: So what the heck is a dual core or multi 496 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: core proces sessor. Now, I always like to use the 497 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: analogy of a math class that has one superstar pupil 498 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: and then a bunch of smart math students who don't 499 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: quite measure up to superstar status. The superstar pupil represents 500 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: a single core CPU that is significantly powerful. The smart 501 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: math students represent a multi core processor. Each individual core 502 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: of this multi core processor is less powerful than the 503 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: super strong single CPU, but collectively those students can tackle 504 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: some problems and solve them faster than the superstar. And 505 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 1: we refer to those types of problems as being parallel problems, 506 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: and that the cores are all executing operations in parallel 507 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: with each other rather than in sequence. So here's the example. 508 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: A math teacher hands out a pop quiz. The superstar 509 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: has to answer eight questions on the quiz, all eight. 510 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: The smart math students, of which there are eight, must 511 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 1: each answer just one of those questions. So students one 512 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: gets questioned one, student two gets questioned two, and so on. 513 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: So who finishes first? Now, while the superstar might get 514 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: through a couple of problems before any of the classmates 515 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: have finished his or her individual problem, Ultimately, the class 516 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 1: is going to finish First, they solved the test in parallel, 517 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: each taking one part of the problem. So even though 518 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: the superstar is technically better at math than they are, 519 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: they can't answer those questions in sequence as quickly as 520 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: the group can in parallel. Now, it's important to note 521 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: that not all computational problems are parallel in nature, So 522 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: for those problems, a really powerful single core processor is 523 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: going to do better than the multi core approach, and 524 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: a m D s early dual core processor couldn't work 525 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: on the same thread at all, but one core could 526 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: work on a thread of operations while the other core 527 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: worked on unrelated computational problems, and that sped things up. Overall, 528 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: both the sixty four bit consumer processor and the dual 529 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:11,719 Speaker 1: core innovation were phenomenal achievements in the world of consumer computers. 530 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,080 Speaker 1: A m D will never quite catching up to Intel's 531 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: marketing with the whole Intel inside thing, was proving itself 532 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: to be a capable and competitive player in the space, 533 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 1: at least on a technological level. Business Wise, things were 534 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: a bit less peppy. A m D was producing more 535 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: chips than it could sell, and that was probably part 536 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: of that whole crazy fabrication plant strategy Sanders had pursued 537 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: in the nineties. They were literally making more chips than 538 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: they had orders for. In two thousand one, a m 539 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: D posted a net loss of sixty one million dollars, 540 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: but the following year it was incredible. It was a 541 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 1: loss of one point three billion dollars. In two thousand 542 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: three it was another two seventy four million dollar loss. 543 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: This is not a trend you want to see, Tenue. Now, 544 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: while the company was introducing innovations, it was still battling 545 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: its nemesis, Intel in the courtrooms. A m D brought 546 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: another anti competitive suit against Intel in two thousand four 547 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: two thousand five, this time in the United States. The 548 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: complaint was forty eight pages long and accused Intel of 549 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: using a monopolistic approach to strong armed companies to work 550 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: with Intel rather than with a m D. At this point, 551 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 1: a m D had several lawsuits against Intel pending in 552 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: various courts, and in two thousand nine, Intel bargained a 553 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 1: settlement agreement with a m D. Intel executives promised that 554 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: their company would abide by a list of rules to 555 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: avoid anti competitive practices. Now, according to c NET, The 556 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: settlement included a payout to a m D to the 557 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: tune of one point to five billion dollars wolf That 558 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 1: certainly can help in an era where the company is 559 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: losing money through sales. Intel also would introduce its famous 560 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: tick talk Strata G, in which the company would first 561 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: design a new microchip architecture, typically by reducing the size 562 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: of the individual components from the previous generation's architecture and 563 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: then cramming more components onto a single chips So, in 564 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: other words, you say, let's take the design from the 565 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:20,839 Speaker 1: last generation of microchips, make everything smaller, add more to it, 566 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: and release that. Then they would follow this up with 567 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,720 Speaker 1: the talk part of the cycle. They would dedicate research 568 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: and development to find out how to best optimize the 569 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: new smaller components to create a new architecture that makes 570 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 1: the best use out of that. So the tick is 571 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: the new architecture or the new the smaller components, and 572 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: the talk was the new optimization of that. Each generation 573 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: of chips represented either a take or a talk. This 574 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: helped reduce risk and expenses on Intel's research and development 575 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,759 Speaker 1: and helped the company mount a counter attack against a 576 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,959 Speaker 1: m D. A m D got aggressive in the wake 577 00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: of their innovation. In two thousand six, the company acquired 578 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,879 Speaker 1: a graphics card company called A t I Technologies Incorporated 579 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 1: for more than five billion dollars. A t I had 580 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 1: launched in the mid eighties in Canada and had become 581 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: known for their graphics processing units, and for a while 582 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,920 Speaker 1: a m D would market graphics processing cards under the 583 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: A t I brand name. In fact, in many ways, 584 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: a TI continued to perform as if it were a 585 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: subsidiary company and not a true part of a m D, 586 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: something that in hindsight, critics have suggested was a problem. 587 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: According to an Ours Technica article that was titled up 588 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,760 Speaker 1: the Rise and Fall of a m D. Highly recommend 589 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,359 Speaker 1: you read that, by the way, it's a two part article, 590 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 1: and it's fantastic. People within the company tended to gravitate 591 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: toward either the CPU side of the business or the 592 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 1: GPU side of the business, and both sides were competing 593 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: over the same set of resources. Now, competition within a 594 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,839 Speaker 1: single company isn't always a great thing, and it led 595 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,880 Speaker 1: to tension within a m D. As well's delays in 596 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: product development. A m d S CPU quality was starting 597 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 1: to slide as well. The Optron processor called Barcelona didn't 598 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,719 Speaker 1: ship on time, and when it did finally come out, 599 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: it had a bug in the design that, when fixed, 600 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: slowed the chips performance speed by about ten percent. A 601 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: few years later, the Bulldozer processor had similar issues. In retrospect, 602 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: some engineers fault the acquisition for dividing the focus of 603 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: the company and the lack of an overall roadmap for 604 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: being the reason that the company was reeling a little bit. Meanwhile, 605 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: PC sales in general were slowing down as the world 606 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 1: began to shift more toward mobile computing. A m D 607 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: found itself in choppy waters again. Ru has managed to 608 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,480 Speaker 1: take care of one big problem, the fabrication facilities that 609 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: were making far too many chips for a m D 610 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: to sell. He arranged a deal with a group of 611 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: investors from Abu Dhabi to sell off a m D 612 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,839 Speaker 1: s fabrication plants. The idea was that m D would 613 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: negotiate production contracts with this new company, and that new 614 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,880 Speaker 1: company could also accept fabrication contracts from other manufacturers, since 615 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 1: the production capacity for all the fabrication plants exceeded what 616 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: am D needed. Not long after that, Ruez would step 617 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: down as CEO. Dirk Meyer, who had worked on the 618 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: design of a m D s K seven chip, became 619 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: the new CEO. Alan Remember when I said A m 620 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,399 Speaker 1: D and Intel settled that lawsuit in two thousand nine. 621 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: One reason a m D might have agreed to come 622 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 1: to the table with a settlement was that Intel lawyers 623 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,760 Speaker 1: were claiming the agreement between a m D and Intel 624 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:43,520 Speaker 1: to cross license the X eight six instruction set was 625 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,759 Speaker 1: only valid if a m D was both the designer 626 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: and the fabricator of the chips. But now am D 627 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: was outsourcing fabrication and that, according to Intel's lawyers, was 628 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,239 Speaker 1: in violation of the agreement. So it's possible a m 629 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: D came to the table to negotiate a settlement in 630 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:04,480 Speaker 1: order to avoid a judgment on that point. Meyer would 631 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,400 Speaker 1: serve as CEO from two thousand eight to two thousand eleven. 632 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: He was effectively removed from the position by the A 633 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 1: m D board analysts at the time, We're a bit surprised. 634 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: Meyer had been focusing on the traditional CPU market and 635 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: making a MD competitive there, with plans to address the 636 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: mobile market a little bit later further down the road. 637 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,920 Speaker 1: He wanted to get the CPU thing right first and 638 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 1: then switch over to mobile. Now, it's possible that the 639 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,279 Speaker 1: board objected to that strategy and wanted someone who would 640 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: lead the company to compete in the mobile space more aggressively, 641 00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: as that was the perceived area for growth. This was 642 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,359 Speaker 1: an era where it became clear that mobile was going 643 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,600 Speaker 1: to be the future of computers. After a CEO search, 644 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,400 Speaker 1: Rory Reid was selected to lead the company. Read diversified 645 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,239 Speaker 1: a m d S approach beyond the PC market, and 646 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,919 Speaker 1: Read was able to guide the company into entering new 647 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,880 Speaker 1: markets while lowering operating costs. In two thousand fourteen, he 648 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: would step down as CEO. He said that that was 649 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 1: the plan the whole time, that he was there just 650 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:06,680 Speaker 1: as sort of an interim CEO to make some business 651 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: level changes to a m D and get the company 652 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: on the right track. But he didn't have a deep 653 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: background in engineering. A m d's next and current CEO did, 654 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: and that is Lisa Sue. Since the nineteen nineties, Lisa 655 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 1: Sue has worked in the semiconductor industry. She started over 656 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,520 Speaker 1: at Texas Instruments on the technical staff. She's also worked 657 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,239 Speaker 1: at IBM and Free Scale Semiconductor. Before she joined a 658 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: m D. She served as the chief operating officer before 659 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,640 Speaker 1: being named the new president and CEO of the company, 660 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,200 Speaker 1: and under her leadership, a m D has done rather well. 661 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 1: In two thousand seventeen, the company had a revenue of 662 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 1: five point three three billion dollars. That was a growth 663 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:54,319 Speaker 1: over the previous year. Also, and remarkably, seventeen would be 664 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:56,200 Speaker 1: the first year that a m D would post a 665 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: full year of profitability, meaning there were no quarters where 666 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 1: they post in a loss. While the company would come 667 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:06,080 Speaker 1: out profitable in previous years, it always had quarters that 668 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,280 Speaker 1: had a loss in those years, so things really had changed. 669 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,040 Speaker 1: Not just a few years ago, lots of people were 670 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: ready to write off a m D. The company was 671 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:18,239 Speaker 1: posting massive losses and it cut back jobs. It looked 672 00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: like it over extended itself. It looked like it was 673 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: just not going to measure up against the competition, and 674 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,320 Speaker 1: the product quality appeared to be slipping. But more recently 675 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: things have seemed to turn around, and perhaps we've yet 676 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,040 Speaker 1: to see the greatest achievements from a company that was 677 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: able to shock the world by beating Intel to the punch. 678 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,840 Speaker 1: Who knows what they might do next. When that wraps 679 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:42,880 Speaker 1: up these episodes about the history of a m D. 680 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:47,080 Speaker 1: Thanks again, Stephen for sending in that request. I greatly 681 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoyed learning more about 682 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:57,120 Speaker 1: this semiconductor and microprocessor company. They are fascinating. They continue 683 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:01,440 Speaker 1: to be fascinating. So uh, that's that for that story. 684 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,480 Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 685 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 1: whether it's a company, a technology, maybe a personality in tech, 686 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,360 Speaker 1: whatever it may be, why not send me an email 687 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,280 Speaker 1: about it. The addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works 688 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,920 Speaker 1: dot com. You can pop on over to our website 689 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,359 Speaker 1: that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You're gonna find an 690 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 1: archive of all of our previous episodes, links to our 691 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,799 Speaker 1: social media presence, as well as a link to our 692 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:29,719 Speaker 1: online store, where every purchase you make goes to help 693 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 1: the show. And we greatly appreciate it, and I'll talk 694 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:41,440 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is a production 695 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 696 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,240 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 697 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,520 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.