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 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works and I heart radio and I 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: love all things tech and tech Stuff. Listener Stephen asked 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: me a long time ago if I could do an 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: episode or two about the company A m D. And 8 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: it's been a long time, Stephen, but now I'm getting 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: to that episode. So today we're going to learn about 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: a m D, where it came from, and its role 11 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: in the tech industry in general, because it's a pretty 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: interesting story and I knew bits and pieces of it, 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: but like any subject for tech Stuff, as I dive 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: into the research, I learned way more than I had 15 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: ever learned before, and I end up going down lots 16 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: of rabbit holes. And of course, to understand the history 17 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: of a m D, WILL need to talk about a 18 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: couple of other companies first, as they would lay the 19 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: ground for a m D and a couple of other 20 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: really big organizations in the microchip industry. And at the 21 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: center of this prehistory for a m D was William Shockley. 22 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: Now I've talked about Shockley a few times in past 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff. He was, without a doubt a 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: brilliant engineer, though in other ways he was also a 25 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 1: deeply flawed human being who harbored some truly horrible traits. 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: And you might think that such a comment isn't really 27 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: germane to the discussion of technology, But as it turns out, 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: Shockley's personality plays just as important a role in the 29 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: emergence of a m D as his experimental work did. Now, 30 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: Shockley worked at Bell Labs, specifically in their solid state 31 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: physics research department, and he would play an important part 32 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: in the development of the transistor, which was an alternative 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: to the vacuum tube technolology that had come before and 34 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: had proved to be a limitation on technology in general 35 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: and electronics in particular. So, hey, what the heck do 36 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: vacuum tubes do? And what do transistors do? Was the 37 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: big deal with them? Well, vacuum tubes are also known 38 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: as thermionic tubes, and they look a lot like light bulbs. 39 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: They are glass with a filament inside of them, and 40 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: they work on the principle that if you add energy 41 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: to a metal, as in, if you heat up that metal, 42 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: the energy will cause the metal to eject electrons. And 43 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: you probably remember this from science classes. Electrons inhabit an 44 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: energy level orbit around the nucleus of an atom, and 45 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: if you pour energy into that atom, it will boost 46 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: the electron to higher energy level orbits. And if you 47 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: pour in enough energy, you'll cause the electron to leave 48 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: its atom entirely. John Ambrose Fleming would build the first 49 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: vacuum tube like device, which he called an oscilla. Should 50 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: valve way back in four His device had two electrodes, 51 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: and that would be our good old buddies, the cathode 52 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: and the anode. The cathode is the negatively charged electrode 53 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: and is thus the source for electrons flowing through a system. 54 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: The anode is the positively charged electrode, and it accepts electrons. 55 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: Though we also need to remember that current direction is 56 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: traditionally thought of as the direction of the flow of 57 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 1: positive charge, So in other words, the flow of current 58 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: is actually in the opposite direction of the electron movement. 59 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: But that's really been Franklin's fault. Will just skip it 60 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: for now. Fleming demonstrated that by heating the cathode, which 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: is at one end of an enclosed glass tube inside 62 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: of which Fleming had induced a vacuum, So there was 63 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: a vacuum inside the tube. When you heat it up 64 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: the cathode, it would give off electrons and those electrons 65 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: could flow across the gap inside the tube between the 66 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: cathode and the anode. They could leap through that vacuum. 67 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: This type of component is called a diode because it 68 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: only allows electrons to travel in one direction, and it's 69 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: useful if you want to create a more complex device 70 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: that works based on where electrons can and cannot go. Now, 71 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: another smarty Pants named lead to Forest would add a 72 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: third electrode to this system, and it's called a control grid. 73 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: And the control grid can serve as both a control 74 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: switch for how many electrons can travel from cathode to 75 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: anode as well as an amplifier. And you can influence 76 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: the current flowing through the vacuum tube by controlling the 77 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: amount of voltage going into the control grid itself. So 78 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: with a tiny change of voltage to the control grid, 79 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: you can have a larger change manifest itself through the 80 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: overall circuit. This was a triode and other variants would follow, 81 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 1: making complex electronics possible. But while they were useful. Vacuum 82 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: tubes are also really large, and they give up a 83 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: lot of heat too. By the nineteen forties, physicists were 84 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: looking at an interesting category of materials that might serve 85 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: as a substitute for these large, bulky hot vacuum tubes, 86 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: and that material category is called semiconductor material and semiconductors 87 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: are why we have the electronics of today in the 88 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: form that they are in. That being said, vacuum tubes 89 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: still are useful. They are still used in electronics today, 90 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: particularly in things like music amps. But that's a discussion 91 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: for a different episode. So what about a semiconductor, because 92 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: that is the bread and butter of companies like a 93 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: M D well. A conductor, at least for the purposes 94 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: of this episode, is a material that allows for the 95 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: passage of electrons through that material. It conducts electricity. The 96 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: opposite type of material is called an insulator. That's material 97 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 1: that resists the flow of electrons through it. Semiconductors have 98 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: conductivity that lies between a conductor and an insulator. In addition, 99 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: the conductivity of a metal decreases as the metal's temperature increases, 100 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: or another way to put it is that a metal's 101 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: resistance to electricity increases as the temperature also increases. Semiconductors 102 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: are actually the opposite. Their conductivity increases as temperature increases. 103 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: There's one part of this picture that I need to 104 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: really cover, and it's called doping. Now. Doping is when 105 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 1: you take an otherwise pure substance and you add small 106 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: amounts of some other material to it, so it becomes 107 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: impure because you no longer have one type of atom 108 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: in that substance. With semiconductors, we typically talk about silicon, 109 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: although that would actually come a little later in the 110 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: development of the transistor. But pure silicon is an insulator. 111 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: So if you have a bunch of silicon atoms, they 112 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: form silicon crystals, and the crystals all bind perfectly with 113 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: each other. They have perfect covalent bonds between the atoms, 114 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: so means there's no free electrons available to move around. 115 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: So if you hit this stuff with a free electron, 116 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: that free electron can't shake anything else loose. It's all 117 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: kind of locked in, so it insulates electricity. But by 118 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: adding small amounts of other materials like arsenic, you can 119 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: add in some free electrons. See arsenic has some extra 120 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: electron or an extra electron compared to silicon. So if 121 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: arsenic is binding with silicon atoms, then you end up 122 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: with this extra electron that's not bound to anything, and 123 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: it will allow for some level of conductivity, all dependent 124 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: upon how much arsenic per silicon you have in that mix. 125 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: This would be called in type doping because you're adding 126 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:50,119 Speaker 1: electrons to the actual material and electrons have a negative charge, 127 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: thus in type doping, or you could dope the silicon 128 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: with something else like boron or gallium, which would mean 129 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: the crystal would actually have a few free spaces for 130 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: electrons or holes. So instead of having these perfect covalent 131 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: bonds that are tight all the way across the entire material, 132 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: you would have these little holes that could accept an 133 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: incoming electron. This is called P type doping. By putting 134 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: in type and P type silicon together, you can create 135 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: a diode, and by adding a third layer so that 136 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: you either have N P N or a P N 137 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: P sandwich of doped silicon, which honestly sounds pretty gross, 138 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 1: you would get a transistor. And that's what Bell Labs 139 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: was trying to create back in the late nineteen forties. Now, 140 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: Shockley's research group was able to develop a transistor that 141 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: could perform the same tasks in electronics as a vacuum tube. 142 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: The first ones were very large and bulky and more 143 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: like a proof of concept, but it quickly became apparent 144 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: that this was going to be the future of electronics, 145 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,679 Speaker 1: and it was what would pave the way for many tourization, 146 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: ultimately leading to a new era in electronics. And I 147 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: should also point out that there were other team members 148 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: besides Shockley who were working on this, like John Bardeen 149 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: and Walter Brittaine and Gerald Pearson. They all made equally 150 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: important contributions to make the transistor possible, but Shockley was 151 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: frequently sourced as the the head or the the prime contributor, 152 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,439 Speaker 1: which is not entirely fair. Now, Shockley left Bell Labs 153 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: and he went on to found his own company called 154 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, and he hired many brilliant people to 155 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: work for him. But his personality and his leadership style 156 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,319 Speaker 1: was so confrontational it was demoralizing. He was described as 157 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: being autocratic and paranoid, and he had a reputation for 158 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: insulting his employees, building them way up early on and 159 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: then gradually undercutting them as the relationship would continue in 160 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: as you might imagine, this led to a pretty unhappy 161 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: work environment. On a side note, Shockley would later espouse 162 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: some truly terrible racist beliefs. And I feel it's important 163 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: to note this because I don't believe in giving a 164 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: free pass to someone simply because they made truly monumental 165 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: contributions to the advancement of technology. We can't deny those contributions. 166 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: They were absolutely important and they transformed our world. At 167 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: the same time, we shouldn't ignore the negative aspects of 168 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: someone's contributions either. We should take in the full picture. Okay, 169 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: So Shockley was in the running for world's Worst boss, 170 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: and it all came to a head in nineteen fifty seven, 171 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: a little more than a year after Shockley had created 172 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: the company in the first place, eight employees, all engineers 173 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: with PhDs, confronted a board member of Shockley Semiconductor named 174 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: Arnold Beckman. And I'll have to do a full episode 175 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: on Beckman at some point. He's another fascinating person. But 176 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: they voiced their concerns to him, and Beckman heard them out, 177 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: and he tried to kind of work out a compromise, 178 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: but it was really too little too late. So the 179 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: eight decided to leave the company, and Shockley would dub 180 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: them the Traitorous Eight, very dramatic, and they included Julius Blank, 181 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: Victor Greenwich, Jean Harney, Gene Kleiner, Jay Last, Sheldon Roberts, 182 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: and a certain Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. These eight 183 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: individuals approached a company called the fair Child Camera and 184 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: Instrument Corporation, and that company was actually looking to diversify 185 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: into the burgeoning semiconductor business at the time. Robert Noyce 186 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: and Gordon Moore were sort of leaders of this charge, 187 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,959 Speaker 1: and after coming to terms with fair Child, including each 188 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: of the engineers sinking five dollars of their own money 189 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: into the uh the whole endeavor as an initial investment, 190 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: they created a new division called fair Child Semiconductor. Now 191 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: I've covered fair Child in episodes, but granted those episodes 192 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: aired way back in two thousand thirteen. The company did 193 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: a lot of really big things in technology, including bringing 194 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: the integrated circuit to market. Though I should mention that 195 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: the engineers over at Texas Instruments had also independently created 196 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: an integrated circuit. Fair Child was just really fast at 197 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,839 Speaker 1: getting that to consumers um and by consumers, I really 198 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: mean other businesses. This is sort of a business to 199 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: business kind of enterprise. But fair Child was also known 200 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: for giving birth to other companies, and we sometimes call 201 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: these other companies the fair Children. In nineteen sixty eight, 202 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: after working at fair Child for about a decade, Robert 203 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: Noyce and Gordon Moore decided they were going to leave 204 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,559 Speaker 1: fair Child and they were going to start their own company, 205 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: and they called it Intel. Intel will pop in and 206 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: out of our story of a m D as it 207 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: was not just a m d's chief rival and still is, 208 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:05,719 Speaker 1: but so has a strangely collaborative relationship with a m D. 209 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: So there's both competition and collaboration between the two companies. 210 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,679 Speaker 1: I'll explain more later. Now, in the wake of noise 211 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: and more departing fair Child, fair Child Semiconductor reached out 212 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: to a physicist over at Motorola named see Lester Hogan, 213 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: yet another person I'll have to do a full episode 214 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: on in the future, and fair Child offered Hogan. I 215 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: will modestly call it a pretty darn sweet deal. That's 216 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: underselling how crazy good this deal was for Hogan. But 217 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: this is not an episode about fair Child, so they 218 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: wanted Hogan to come over to fair Child to manage 219 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: the semiconductor team. So Hogan brought seven Motorola executives with 220 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:50,439 Speaker 1: him and they were collectively known as Hogan's heroes. So 221 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,959 Speaker 1: we've got the Traitorous Eight and we have Hogan's Heroes, 222 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: and this makes the early days of Silicon Valley sound 223 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: like some sort of Tarantino movie. Hogan the Way had 224 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: previously worked under Shockley over at Bell Labs, so he 225 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,679 Speaker 1: had that in common with the trader Is Eight, though 226 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: he didn't join Shockley's semiconductor company when Shockley left Bell Labs, 227 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,319 Speaker 1: and Hogan's team had a very conservative management style, something 228 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: that clashed with another fair Child Semiconductor employee, a guy 229 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:25,359 Speaker 1: named Walter Jeremiah Sanders the Third or just Jerry Sanders. 230 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: And Jerry Sanders will play a very important role in 231 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: our story. I'll explain more in just a second, but 232 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break. Jerry Sanders grew up 233 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties. He was raised by his grandparents 234 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: after his parents essentially abandoned him. He grew up on 235 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: the South Side of Chicago, fairly rough part of Chicago 236 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: at the time, and according to an article in sf 237 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: Gate and a few other sources, when he was eighteen 238 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: years old, he rushed to help a friend of his 239 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: who was being attacked by a gang, and he himself 240 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: was also beaten up, and he was being up so 241 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: badly that he went into a coma for a few days, 242 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: and a priest actually administered last rites. But he recovered 243 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 1: from that and he was able to succeed despite his 244 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: tough past. He enrolled in the University of Illinois and 245 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: graduated with a degree in engineering, and he got hired 246 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: by Fairchild to be a sales engineer and also a 247 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: marketing manager, and he became known for being particularly successful 248 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: in that regard. But then Nois and more left and 249 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 1: Hogan and his heroes swooped in and they changed things 250 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: and they effectively pushed Sanders aside. They essentially they called 251 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: it a promotion, but it really was a d motion. 252 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: He went from a director of marketing to being sort 253 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: of a vice president of marketing, and it was really 254 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: seen as as more of a let's get this guy 255 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: out of the way. Sanders was thirty three years old 256 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: at the time. Now Sanders and seven other fair Child 257 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: employees would end up leaving fair Child Semiconductor to go 258 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: and found a new organization. Now, according to most accounts, 259 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: if you go and you start searching for history of 260 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: a m D on the net, you're gonna find a 261 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: very similar story told over and over again. And the 262 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: story goes that the Jerry Sanders effectively led this charge 263 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: and he got the team together to form this new company. So, 264 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: according to the history of semi conductor engineering, Jack Gifford, 265 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: who had become the head of computer marketing at Fairchild 266 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: in early nineteen nine, saw the writing on the wall 267 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: when Hogan's heroes swept into the company. He had already 268 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: been considering the possibility of starting his own analog circuit company, 269 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: but he was young. He was just twenty eight years 270 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: old at the time, and when he decided to take 271 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: that leap, he found he couldn't get any financial backing 272 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: for his business. His buddy, Bruce Waterfall, told him that 273 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: the problem was the financiers thought Gifford was too young 274 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:09,199 Speaker 1: and inexperienced, and therefore he posed an investment risk. So 275 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 1: Waterfall reportedly told Gifford that he needed to find someone 276 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: older and more experienced whom the bankers would find more reassuring, 277 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: and Jack then thought of Jerry Sanders, who, according to 278 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: the book, had just left Fairchild himself after being pushed 279 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: aside by Hogan. Sanders was apparently considering a new career, 280 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: going into the recording business in Hollywood, and initially he 281 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: wasn't interested in Gifford's pitch to start a new analog 282 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: circuit company. Sanders response was effectively, I'll do it on 283 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: two conditions. One, I have to be the president of 284 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: the company, and too, it's not going to be an 285 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: analog circuit company, but a digital circuit company. Gifford found 286 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,199 Speaker 1: himself without any real leverage, and he agreed. Getting the 287 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: money also proved to be a little tricky. One of 288 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: the investment groups they approached was called the Capital Group, 289 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: and there was a guy there named Jim Martin who 290 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: was working there, and that might have already spelled doom 291 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:07,640 Speaker 1: for the new company before things could even get started, 292 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: because it turned out Jim Martin had previously worked for 293 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: fair Child, but he had been fired. In fact, he 294 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: had been fired by a certain Jerry Sanders. This has 295 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: me imagining a scene in which Sanders, looking for investment 296 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: capital for Gifford's company idea walks into the office of 297 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: a guy he had once fired at his old company 298 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: in the past. But Jim Martin was also good friends 299 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: with Jack Gifford, and so he worked with his colleagues 300 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: at the Capitol Group to provide an initial investment in 301 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 1: the new company. And this new company's name would be 302 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: Advanced micro Devices or a m D, and it incorporated 303 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: on May one, nine nine. So from Chockley's semiconductor lab, 304 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: we can trace a path not just a fair Child, 305 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: but also Intel and a m D. And while a 306 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,640 Speaker 1: m D would become known as a competitor with Intel, 307 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: things would start off a little bit differently. A m 308 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 1: D was originally in Santa Clara, California, but quickly moved 309 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: to Sunny Vale just a few months after the founders 310 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: formed the company. Their new DIGS had fifteen thousand square 311 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: feet of space and was valued at half a million 312 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: dollars at the time. While the engineers at Intel we're 313 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: working on creating new microchips, a m d s first 314 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: order of business was taking products from Fairchild and then 315 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: redesigning them, essentially optimizing them and tweaking them. This would 316 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: be something that a m D would get really good 317 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 1: at not necessarily building its own products from the ground up, 318 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: but taking other products and then optimizing them. These were 319 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 1: mostly in the form of integrated circuits, and while a 320 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: m D started in the business of building logic chips, 321 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: they weren't yet creating CPUs themselves. Uh, the CPU is 322 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: the primary logic chip in a computer. Now. To be fair, 323 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: a m d s founding was right around the time 324 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: when the concept of a CPU on a single chip 325 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: was just starting to coalesce, because this was still the 326 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: very early days of computers. Earlier, the logic center of 327 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: a computer consisted of several different logic chips, all wired together, 328 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: and each logic chip itself was an integrated circuit that 329 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: would fit into the larger circuit of the central processing unit, 330 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: which would, as I mentioned, consists of several chips. But 331 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: many people, independently or depending upon whom you believe, not 332 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: so independently, proposed that with the right architecture, you could 333 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: build all the necessary logic components onto a single chip 334 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,400 Speaker 1: in an integrated circuit and create what was effectively a 335 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: computer on a chip. Now, I said, depending upon whom 336 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: you believe, because there are disputes regarding who first came 337 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: up with the notion of a computer on a chip. 338 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: There's some arguments about who it was that first proposed this, 339 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: and there's the past ability that people responsible for building 340 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: what would become the first true single chip CPU may 341 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: have learned about the possibility from another person who had 342 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: already proposed it and had worked for them in a 343 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: previous company. But the unfolding all of that would require 344 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: an episode all by itself. The episode about how the 345 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: CPU on a chip came to be would be a 346 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 1: pretty dramatic story that I don't have time to tell today. 347 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: So single chip CPUs were not yet realized when a 348 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,120 Speaker 1: m D first started, and it makes sense that they 349 00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:38,360 Speaker 1: began with basic logic chips what we would consider components 350 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: of an overall central processing unit today. They were chips 351 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: like an arithmetic logic unit and a control unit. So 352 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: these are all elements that are now integrated into the 353 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: CPUs we have today, but in the old days, they 354 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: were all discrete components that you would have to, you know, 355 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: put together in your circuit. Their first really successful component 356 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: came out a year after the founding of the company, 357 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,679 Speaker 1: so in nineteen seventy, and it was called the a 358 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: M to five O one logic counter. It was the 359 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: industry's first binary slash hexadecimal up down counter. So what 360 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: the heck does that mean? I could just say that 361 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: and move on, but I feel like without describing what 362 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: binary hexadecimal counters do, it's meaningless. Right, I could have 363 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: said any gobbledygook and it would have been just as fine. 364 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: So binary, of course, refers to the two state basic 365 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: unit of logic in computers, and we represent binary as 366 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: being either a zero or a one. So you can 367 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: think of it like a light switch, right, it's either 368 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: off or it's on. It can't be both, it can't. 369 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: It has to be one or the other. And if 370 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: you use strings of binary digits series of zeros and ones, 371 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: you can represent all sorts of stuff, from other numbers 372 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: to letters, to pictures of cats and so on. But 373 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,120 Speaker 1: it takes a lot of binary numbers to represent the stuff. 374 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: And as you work with larger digital systems, you start 375 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: to discover that working with binary becomes unwieldy. It's very 376 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: hard to read or write blocks of binary code, and 377 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: it's super hard to do so without introducing errors in 378 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: the process. So one way to deal with This is 379 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,879 Speaker 1: to group sets of four bits together. A bit is 380 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 1: that basic unit of information, a zero or a one, 381 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: So you can group these four bits together into another 382 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: type of numbering system called hexadecimal numbers. Now hexa decimal 383 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: numbers is a base sixteen numbering system. We use a 384 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: base ten numbering system. We go from zero to nine, 385 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: and when we get past nine, you have ten, which 386 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,320 Speaker 1: is again you start back at zero, and then you 387 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: have a one in the tens column for that number. 388 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: But you go all the way back up to nineteen, 389 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: and then you start over again, and now you have 390 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: a two in that ten's column. Well, hexadecimal is base sixteen, 391 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: and that presents a challenge, right because if you're talking 392 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: about base sixteen, you would normally start with zero. Then 393 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: you'd work up to fifteen. But how could you tell 394 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: a ten apart from the two digits of one and 395 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,880 Speaker 1: zero that are side by side. Right, If you can 396 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,880 Speaker 1: have a zero and a one in your numbering system, 397 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: and you can have a ten in your numbering system 398 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: and it's base sixteen, you can't tell the difference between 399 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: a ten and a one zero. So anything ten or 400 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 1: higher ten to fifteen would be confusing, and so for 401 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: that reason, the digits ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, and fifteen 402 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: are in hexadecimal, represented by letters A, B, C, D, E, 403 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,479 Speaker 1: and F. So hexadecimal digits include zero through nine and 404 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: A through f to represent binary or decimal numbers. Now, 405 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 1: remember hexadecimal numbers represent groups of four bits. A zero 406 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: in hexadecimal represents a binary string of four zeros in 407 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: a row, and F and hexadecimal represents the four bit 408 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: string of one one one one, Because that actually represents 409 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: the decimal number of fifteen um you have. You essentially 410 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: say one plus two plus four plus eight. That's how 411 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: those different digit spots represent numbers. So to convert binary 412 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,919 Speaker 1: into hexadecimal, you would first take your big block of 413 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: binary code and you divide it into four bit strings. 414 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: Then you would convert each four bit string into the 415 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 1: hexadecimal digit that represents that four bit string, and you 416 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,440 Speaker 1: have a slightly simpler way of representing all the information. 417 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: So a m d S first successful logic counter could 418 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: do this task and it became an important early component 419 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 1: in mini computer systems of the early nineteen seventies. At 420 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: the time of the A M to five zero one release. 421 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,479 Speaker 1: A m D had fifty three employees. The company had 422 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,880 Speaker 1: established a wafer fabrication lab that could make two inch 423 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: silicon wafers and then a m D would then use 424 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: that as a platform for integrated circuits, and the company 425 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: was able to build circuits with elements on the seven 426 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: micrometer scale, or if you're old school, the seven micron scale. 427 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,479 Speaker 1: A micrometer is one millionth of a meter, and today 428 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: microprocessors are built on the nanometer scale that's one billionth 429 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: of a meter, But in nineteen seventy the micrometer scale 430 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: was pretty darn impressive. In an a m D engineer 431 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: named Sven Simonson led a group that designed another successful 432 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: A m D product, and it was a chip that 433 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: handled multiplication. It was called the A M two five 434 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,159 Speaker 1: oh five and it was at the time the industry's 435 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,400 Speaker 1: fastest multiplier chip. So the company was making a name 436 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: for itself building out these components that were outperforming other 437 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: manufacturers that we're working in the same industry. One was 438 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: also the year that a m D began to produce 439 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: random access memory or RAM chips, and anyone who has 440 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,679 Speaker 1: gone shopping for computers has seen stuff about RAM, and 441 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: I think most people realize it has something to do 442 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: with computer performance, but they might not know what it 443 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: actually is all about. Well, first you know it's it 444 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: is memory, and memories purpose is to keep a record 445 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,440 Speaker 1: of information, and there are different types of memory. This 446 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: is true for people and it's true for computers. So 447 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: in computers, you have read only memory or ROM, you 448 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 1: have random access memory or RAM, and then you have 449 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: auxiliary memory, which we usually refer to as storage. So 450 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,120 Speaker 1: auxiliary memory is where information lives when you've saved it. 451 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: It's in a way sort of analogous to our long 452 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: term memory as human beings. But retrieving information from auxiliary 453 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 1: memory takes a little bit of time. A computer has 454 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: to go through the directory, find the information, retrieve it, 455 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,119 Speaker 1: and pull it up into the current moment. So if 456 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: a computer had to refer to its auxiliary memory every 457 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,200 Speaker 1: time you want to run any sort of process related 458 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: to that data, it would feel like it was really 459 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: taking forever. Random access memory is more sort of like 460 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: our our short term memory. It's used to temporarily store 461 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: information for the purposes of working with that info and 462 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: making it faster. So rather than having to pull up 463 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: the data from storage every time the computer can store 464 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: it temporarily in RAM. So the more RAM you have, 465 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,400 Speaker 1: the more information you can hold in this working memory. 466 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: And that's why people tend to talk about having more 467 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: RAM with your computer makes your computer faster. What's really 468 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: doing is it's cutting down on how frequently your machine 469 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,479 Speaker 1: needs to consult it's auxiliary memory. So if it can 470 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: load more data into RAM, then it doesn't need to 471 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: pop back into the library as frequently. RAM is often 472 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: referred to as volatile memory, and it will only hold 473 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: information as long as the computer is powered on. Upon 474 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: losing power, traditional RAM relinquishes all that information. Read only memory, 475 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: by the way, or ROM has pre programmed information that's 476 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: hard coded onto the memory itself and generally is used 477 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: to hold stuff like basic sets of instructions that the 478 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: computer has to follow in order to boot up and 479 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: get the system ready for use. All right, so that's 480 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: RAM in a nutshell. I'll have to do a full 481 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: episode about later on to talk about the nitty gritty stuff, 482 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 1: and when we come back, I'll talk more about the 483 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: early days of a m D. But first let's take 484 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: another quick break. In two, a m D made the 485 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: move to become a publicly traded company and held a 486 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: night po Chairs of a m D were valued at 487 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: fifteen dollars each. The following year, it would open its 488 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: first overseas manufacturing facility in Malaysia. So the company was 489 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: expanding early on, and the company continued to manufacture components 490 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: and grow, And that's pretty much what the company did 491 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: for its first few years, building logic chips, growing the company. 492 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: And there's not really much to say about those years 493 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: apart from the fact that Sanders established himself as a 494 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: bit of a flamboyant leader. He had already been seen 495 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: as similar in uh fair Child, and I read in 496 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,239 Speaker 1: an Ours Technica article that Francis fran Barton, who was 497 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: the chief financial officer at a m D in the 498 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: late nineties, described Sanders as being part Indiana Jones, part 499 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: don Keyxote. So that's pretty darn flamboyant. Now, Uh. I 500 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: do want to say that if I were to cover 501 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: every single thing they ever put out, this would sound 502 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: like a technical manual and all the names are a 503 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: M and then a bunch of numbers that would become 504 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: unmanageable right away. So I'm going to be skipping around 505 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: a little bit. So by the spring of nineteen seventy four, 506 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: five years after the company had started, it had grown 507 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: to just under fift employees. A m D also reinvested 508 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 1: in its manufacturing facilities, which is a necessary and critical 509 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: part of the semiconductor business. Gordon Moore, you know, that 510 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: guy who used to work at Fairchild and then became 511 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: a co founder of Intel, had famously made an observation 512 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty five that market demands would create 513 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: the incentive for semiconductor companies to cram about twice as 514 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: many components onto a square inch silicon chip every two 515 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: years or so. To meet that demand, companies like Intel 516 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: and A m D had to frequently overhaul not just 517 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,040 Speaker 1: the design of the chips, but the manufacturing process itself 518 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: to create ever smaller transistors and pathways in order to 519 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 1: stay true to that observation. Today we call that observation 520 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: Moore's law, though these days we tend to think of 521 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: it in terms of computing power, and how computing power 522 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: tends to double and strength every eighteen to twenty four months, 523 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: as if it were magically doing that on its own. 524 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: The Gordon Moore's point was that there was going to 525 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 1: be a continuing demand from the marketplace for ever smaller 526 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: components on microchips, which in turn also means that the 527 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: microchips are able to do a lot more stuff because 528 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: you've crammed more components onto it than the previous generations microchips, 529 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: and that as long as that market demand is there, 530 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: then it would create the incentive to continue investing in that. 531 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: So his was a market driven vision. We tend to 532 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: think of it as some sort of innovation law, but 533 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,240 Speaker 1: that means that's sort of like getting it backwards anyway. 534 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 1: Even in those days, a m D and Intel were competing. 535 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: While Intel had started to develop computers on a chip 536 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen seventies, releasing the Intel four zero 537 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: zero four micro processor back in nineteen seventy one, it 538 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: was also still the business of building logic chips, and 539 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: a m D sales for certain products we're starting to 540 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 1: catch up to and in some cases exceed Intel sales, 541 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: So things were looking good for a m D. Jerry 542 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: Sanders initiated a special program called Run for the Sun 543 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five. This was a sales target for 544 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: a m D. The sales target was to make ninety 545 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: three million dollars in sales that year, So why ninety 546 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: three million dollars, Well, that would be one dollar for 547 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: every mile between the Earth and the Sun, and Sanders 548 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: again had a certain flair for the dramatic. By the way, 549 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: A m D would very nearly make that goal. They 550 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,720 Speaker 1: came up less than a million dollars short of that figure. 551 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: Really impressive considering where they were. But I guess that 552 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: means they didn't burn up on the surface of the Sun, 553 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: so that's good. Also, in nine, A m D did 554 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: something pretty clever. Engineers took a very close look at 555 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 1: a photograph of the die that Intel was using to 556 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 1: build the company's A D eight eight bit microprocessor. So 557 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: the microprocessor was called the eight and it was an 558 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:12,400 Speaker 1: eight bit microprocessor. Am D looks at this their engineers. 559 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: They start to set out to reverse engineer Intel's work 560 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: and make their own version of Intel's chip, So a 561 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 1: m D S version would ultimately be called the a 562 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: M nine D e D. Now you might imagine that 563 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: Intel was pretty head up about the fact that A 564 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,240 Speaker 1: m D had managed to figure out their secret sauce 565 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: and then reverse engineer it to create their own variation 566 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 1: of Intel's chip. But what actually unfolded was one of 567 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 1: the more unusual business deals in tech history, in Intel 568 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: and A m D entered into a cross licensing agreement 569 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: between the two companies. This initial agreement had to do 570 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: with microcode, which is the code on top of a 571 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 1: CPU that allows it to interact with the computer's other systems, 572 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: and it gets pretty complicated both logically and legally. But 573 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: an interesting thing to point out is that A m 574 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,320 Speaker 1: D and Intel, without while they were still being fiercely 575 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: competitive against each other and even engaging in lengthy and 576 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: acrimonious legal battles over their history, would continue to renew 577 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 1: patent licensing agreements every decade because they were set to 578 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 1: expire after ten years. While in nineteen seventy seven, A 579 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 1: m D and the German company Siemens entered and do 580 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: a joint venture to develop micro computers. Those are the 581 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: type of computers we think of as desktop personal computers 582 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,040 Speaker 1: in other words, Now together the companies formed a third 583 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,239 Speaker 1: entity called Advanced micro Computers, and they established it both 584 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: in the United States and in Germany. The main focus 585 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: was to create computers that had a dialog Z eight 586 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: thousand micro processor as the CPU. A m D was 587 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,799 Speaker 1: actually a second source for those type of chips. Now, 588 00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: that means that a m D had acquired a license 589 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: from Zilog to produce Xilogs chips using Zalogs designs. So 590 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,600 Speaker 1: it's it's as if you, let's say that you make 591 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 1: a soft drink like Coca Cola, and then Pepsi comes 592 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: up to you and says, hey, we can't meet our demand. 593 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,880 Speaker 1: We have way more demand for our product than we 594 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: can personally manufacture, so we are willing to strike a 595 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: deal with you where you can make our stuff and 596 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,279 Speaker 1: sell it because the demand is there, and you'll pay 597 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,759 Speaker 1: us a little licensing fee so that we get some 598 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: money out of this. But that way we meet our 599 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,720 Speaker 1: customer demands and you make money and I make money. 600 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,759 Speaker 1: And that's sort of the idea that a m D 601 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: had with Zilog, where they were allowed to produce Zilog 602 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: chips in return for this licensing fee. Now, before long 603 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: it became clear that Siemens and a m D had 604 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:55,359 Speaker 1: very different visions of where advanced micro computers should go. 605 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: And in nineteen seventy nine, just two years after entering 606 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,919 Speaker 1: into the joint venture, a m D would buy out 607 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,839 Speaker 1: Siemens stake in that company, and A m D would 608 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,880 Speaker 1: continue to operate advanced micro computers for a short while, 609 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,839 Speaker 1: but would choose to shut it down in N one 610 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:17,799 Speaker 1: because of another big opportunity. Then, opportunity came straight from 611 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: their old nemesis, Intel. In the nineteen seventies, Intel had 612 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: developed the eight six microprocessor and by extension, what has 613 00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: become known as the X eight six instruction set architecture. 614 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 1: This was a significant advancement over Intel's eight bit processor, 615 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,400 Speaker 1: the D eight that was the one that A m 616 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 1: D had managed to reverse engineer and effectively clone a 617 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: couple of years earlier. The eight six microprocessor was a 618 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: top candidate when another tech giant, IBM, was looking at 619 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: microprocessors that might power its upcoming IBM PC. But Big 620 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 1: Blue had a concern. IBM was worried that the demand 621 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:05,719 Speaker 1: for the IBM PC would quickly exceed Intel's manufacturing capacity, 622 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: and that would result in shortages and delays in the 623 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:13,240 Speaker 1: supply chain, which in turn would make IBMS customers unhappy. Plus, 624 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 1: if something should happen to Intel, then IBM would be 625 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,080 Speaker 1: up the creek as far as its computers were concerned. 626 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:23,800 Speaker 1: They'd have no supplier for their microprocessors. So IBM essentially 627 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,839 Speaker 1: told Intel, hey, we can make a deal, and it's 628 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,279 Speaker 1: going to be a big one, you know, make you 629 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,000 Speaker 1: lots of money, but you have to figure out how 630 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: to license your technology to another manufacturer so that we 631 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: can get the number of chips we need to meet 632 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 1: our demand. Intel, not wanting to lose this valuable contract, 633 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: agreed to IBMS terms and then turned to a m D. 634 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: Thus Intel an a m D entered into an agreement. 635 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,880 Speaker 1: Intel would supply a m D with the proprietary information 636 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: about how the eight six and by extension, the x 637 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: A D six instruction set architecture worked, and a m 638 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: D would start producing some of Intel's chips, and the 639 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: two competitors joined forces to meet IBMS expectations. Now, in 640 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: another episode, I talked about how IBM's decision to rely 641 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: heavily on off the shelf components would lead to its 642 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: eventual departure from the personal computer market because other companies 643 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: would replicate IBM computers by getting hold of those same 644 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:28,400 Speaker 1: basic components and putting them together themselves. And part of 645 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,000 Speaker 1: that had to do with Intel and a m D 646 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: not having to sign any sort of exclusive deal with IBM, 647 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: So not only did these companies make a killing off IBM, 648 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 1: they also benefited from all the IBM compatible manufacturers that 649 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 1: grew out of that era, and both Intel and A 650 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 1: M D were raking in the cash. Intel would continue 651 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,799 Speaker 1: to supply A M D with database tapes for the 652 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:57,520 Speaker 1: design of the six, the six, and the A D 653 00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: two eighty six, which gave A D the ability to 654 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,360 Speaker 1: make clones of those chips, plus the variants like the 655 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: eight and thee Those were variations on the x A 656 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,799 Speaker 1: D six architecture. Now A and D did not put 657 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: all its eggs in the Intel second source basket. It 658 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 1: was also developing chips for RISK computers. RISK or r 659 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:25,920 Speaker 1: I s C stands for reduced instruction set computer. It 660 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,439 Speaker 1: relies on a processor design that follows a simplified set 661 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: of instructions, and it's an alternative to complex instruction set 662 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: computing or c I s C. The idea of r 663 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,080 Speaker 1: I s C computers is that they do fewer things, 664 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,799 Speaker 1: but the things they do they can do much more 665 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:49,880 Speaker 1: quickly and efficiently. The power PC microprocessor architecture, which was 666 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 1: a joint venture between Apple, IBM, and Motorola, relied on 667 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,319 Speaker 1: risk chips. The A M D line was known as 668 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: the A M twenty nine thousand series. So in nine three, 669 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:07,239 Speaker 1: A M D ruffled the feathers over at Intel a 670 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,560 Speaker 1: little bit. The company produced it's a M two eighty 671 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: six licensed clone of Intel's eight two eighties six, And 672 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: typically we just refer to these as two eighty six 673 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,279 Speaker 1: microchips or two eighty six computers. It's really saying that 674 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,840 Speaker 1: the computer, which was an IBM compatible computer had inside 675 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,600 Speaker 1: of it an A D two eighty six microchip or 676 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:34,360 Speaker 1: a M D S version. So the fact that A 677 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: M D was making this chip totally fine. That was 678 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,560 Speaker 1: completely covered under this licensing agreement between the two companies. 679 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: That was not the problem. A M D was doing 680 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: exactly what it was supposed to be doing. It was 681 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:48,759 Speaker 1: taking Intel's chips, and it was making them and making 682 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,800 Speaker 1: them available to these UH manufacturers that are making the 683 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: actual computers. The two chips were identical from an architectural perspective, 684 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 1: but a M D S version had a higher clock speed. 685 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,719 Speaker 1: Intel's clock speed for the two eighty six topped out 686 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: at twelve point five Mega hurts, and a M D 687 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: S could go up as high as twenty mega hurts. 688 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,400 Speaker 1: So that raises the question what are clock speeds? So 689 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,520 Speaker 1: let me answer that very quickly. With a processor, the 690 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:23,800 Speaker 1: clock tells us essentially how many internal operations the microprocessor 691 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:28,239 Speaker 1: can perform each second, and we describe this in cycles 692 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 1: per second, and a HURTS is one cycle per second. 693 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:36,839 Speaker 1: So Intel's two eight six microprocessor could complete twelve and 694 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,799 Speaker 1: a half million cycles every second, but a m D 695 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: S could do twenty million cycles every second. So a 696 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,759 Speaker 1: m D S chip was able to process information at 697 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,160 Speaker 1: a faster rate than Intel's which led the industry to 698 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,240 Speaker 1: say that a m D was effectively producing better Intel 699 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:58,520 Speaker 1: chips than Intel could, and as you can imagine, that 700 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,399 Speaker 1: didn't go over so well at Intel. Intel did not 701 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 1: want to see companies going with their competitors version of 702 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,879 Speaker 1: their own chip instead of them. But things were going 703 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 1: great at a m D. The company was named one 704 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 1: of the Fortune five hundred companies in nineteen eighty five. 705 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,320 Speaker 1: Tony Holbrook would become the president of the company in 706 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,280 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, and Jerry Sanders would turn into the CEO, 707 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: not turn into he was just that was his role. 708 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,200 Speaker 1: Didn't have a magic fairy come down and Grant him 709 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:30,279 Speaker 1: the wish of becoming CEO those some days. I think 710 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: that's how business works. Also, in nineteen eighty six, Intel 711 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,400 Speaker 1: terminated their contract with a m D, which was problematic 712 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,719 Speaker 1: as the second source deal between the two companies that 713 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:44,799 Speaker 1: that had started back in nineteen eighty two, and it 714 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,879 Speaker 1: was supposed to last ten years. But if I'm doing 715 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,080 Speaker 1: my math correctly, two plus ten does not equal nineteen 716 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,920 Speaker 1: eight six. So I guess Intel wasn't too happy with 717 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,920 Speaker 1: getting a reputation for making the second best Intel microchip 718 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: in the industry, and the company was gearing up with 719 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:06,280 Speaker 1: its three eight six update. So Intel said no dice 720 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: to a m D, and a m D sued, alleging 721 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,640 Speaker 1: that Intel had breached the contract. But these legal battles 722 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 1: take time. This particular legal battle would take almost ten years, 723 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:19,879 Speaker 1: and in the meantime am D had to figure out 724 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:22,759 Speaker 1: what else it had to do. That what else would 725 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: end up being up two pronged attack. One would be 726 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:29,960 Speaker 1: to develop their own CPUs, actually designing their own microchip 727 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,960 Speaker 1: architecture from the ground up based on the x A 728 00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:37,439 Speaker 1: D six instruction set. The other prong of this two 729 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,920 Speaker 1: pronged attack was to look at what Intel was doing 730 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 1: and reverse engineer it again and maybe even do it 731 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:48,360 Speaker 1: better than Intel could again. So in our next episode 732 00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,440 Speaker 1: we'll talk about this two pronged attack and what a 733 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,839 Speaker 1: m D did and how it continued to evolve and 734 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:57,279 Speaker 1: what's going on with the company today. But this is 735 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,440 Speaker 1: time to wrap up this particular episode, So thank you 736 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:03,839 Speaker 1: so much for the suggestion. Greatly appreciate it. If any 737 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,120 Speaker 1: of you have any suggestions for future episodes of tech 738 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,120 Speaker 1: Stuff episodes, you can write me the addresses tech Stuff 739 00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:11,880 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. You can drop on 740 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 1: by the website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You're 741 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,160 Speaker 1: gonna find an archive of all of our shows there, 742 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,800 Speaker 1: plus links to the social uh presence of tech Stuff 743 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,759 Speaker 1: and to our online store, where every purchase you make 744 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,719 Speaker 1: goes to help the show. We greatly appreciate it, and 745 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again about a m D 746 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:38,960 Speaker 1: really soon. Tex Stuff is a production of I Heart 747 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,440 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 748 00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,960 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 749 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:47,560 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.