Reborn Capital Madman

The relationship between Sir Gao and Intel, as well as founders or veteran employees such as Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, etc., has a history of more than ten years, during which there was a common understanding before Intel went public.

Together, they succeeded when Intel's stock price was high and retreated, until now they have provided a generous helping hand after Intel's collapse.

This reflects Sir Gao's loyalty. In contrast, most of the capital that originally pursued Intel has stayed away from it, and even itself has perished.

Therefore, relying on this emotional foundation, Intel can basically listen to the opinions put forward by Sir Gao, who essentially represents Intel's largest shareholder Gaoyi Group.

In fact, Intel has no confidence to refute. It wants to completely produce its own products of the Intel 80386 generation and prohibit other manufacturers from developing and manufacturing compatible products. It is simply impossible.

First of all, Intel obviously cannot afford to offend a big customer like IBM. From Intel 8086, Intel 8088, to Intel 80286, Big Blue can produce its own compatible products, plus the 2% that Sir Gao took over from IBM.

Ten Intel shares all reflect the confidence and dominance of large companies that are not controlled by others.

Secondly, it is not possible for Intel to handle competitors such as AMD if it wants to, because the development and production of compatible products is one of AMD's main businesses. If Intel wants to cut off people and money, it will naturally cause a strong backlash and start a lawsuit.

It will definitely last a long time, and during this time, AMD will not be idle and will really stop the compatibility business.

In addition, if Intel wants to go it alone, it must make careful considerations. Has the x86 family of microprocessors really reached a point where the industry can't live without it?

In discussions such as this, Intel obviously lacks confidence and is unable to argue. Especially when it comes to the danger of being replaced, Andy Grove, who has always been regarded as a gunman, is equivalent to admitting that Intel cannot do what it wants, and it is a direct line.

I told him that Sir Gao has been sticking to Zilog all these years and favors Zilog a lot. He has that kind of ability.

Sir Gao was amused, and he openly and honestly eliminated this possible grudge. The reason why I supported Feijin, who had left Intel, to start Zilog was because I cherished talents.

You won't deny Feigin's talent, but he can't adapt to Intel's strict, military-like corporate management system. Then let him develop his talents under the free work system more common in Silicon Valley.

Now Zilog is focusing on RISC and low power consumption. The microprocessor market is so big. It will not struggle with Intel in the consumer market where x86 family microprocessors are located. You don't have to worry about Zilog unnecessarily.

Nervous.

After seeing Andy Grove trying out a secret from Sir Gao, Gordon Moore quickly pulled back. Intel has made microprocessors its main business, so it must absolutely control the x86 family of microprocessors.

There is no objection to this point, but I would like Sir Gao to give you more guidance on how to implement it.

Sir Gao flipped through the document in front of him again, which was submitted by Intel. The content included Intel's high-sounding reasons for prohibiting other manufacturers from developing and producing Intel 80386 compatible products and releasing them to the outside world.

For example, Intel claims that this move will help maintain the underlying consistency of the Intel 80386 series of products and is conducive to the long-term development of the x86 family of microprocessors. Previously, those "second supply source" manufacturers were developing and producing Intel 8086

, Intel 8088 and Intel 80286 will add some "optimizations" with their own technical characteristics, which will cause compatible products to show some underlying differences. If this continues, it will definitely cause technical confusion.

For another example, Intel believes that with the development of the semiconductor industry to this day, technology, processes, testing and other links have become very complete and reliable, and Intel itself also has sufficient capabilities to ensure the long-lasting stability of Intel 80386 supply. Circle

This slogan may be a little difficult to understand for outsiders. Just give an example from the "old script". Intel will continue to supply Intel 80386 until 2007 of the next century.

"Obviously, if Intel wants to change its past practices and gain absolute control over the x86 family of microprocessors, it must make these evidences credible enough." Gao Xian patted the document gently, "But I heard that just

Intel encountered problems with the mass production of the 80386. It was originally expected that the main frequency of the mass-produced chip that would be introduced to the market for the first time would be 16mhz. However, because the yield rate was not satisfactory, it had to settle for a 12.5mhz microprocessor as the first batch.

How can we ensure the long-term and stable supply of products that are already on the market?"

Gordon Moore and Andy Grove immediately looked embarrassed. As the sponsor, Sir Gao, although loyal enough, was not perfect. It was mainly reflected in his inscrutability. He said that you are the professionals.

However, once you get serious about it, you can directly hit the Achilles' heel of technical problems.

Intel released the intel 80386 last year, that is, before the end of 1985, but it only started mass production this year, because the normal operating process is like this, and because of poor performance, financial constraints caused the production of new products.

The necessary factory investment will inevitably be stretched.

As a result, the mass production of Intel 80386 was not very smooth.

The issues Sir Gao mentioned can still save face for Gordon Moore and Andy Grove.

Because Intel 80386 has many problems. For example, when the 32-bit operand multiplication is executed near the boundary value, an incorrect result will be returned.

Fortunately, the mass production of Intel's 80386 was not smooth. There were few finished products and few defective products. Moreover, 32-bit operations in personal computer application scenarios are relatively rare at this stage, so it is not easy to trigger bugs. It does give Intel a way to correct errors and stop losses.

Enough buffering.

Although Intel 80386 has problems, it is still much better than Intel 80286, because Intel 80286 has more bugs, which has caused a lot of trouble for the new operating system os/2 that IBM and Microsoft are jointly developing.

As a result, IBM increasingly distrusted Intel's chip design capabilities and ignored Intel's new Intel 80386. Microsoft's Gates simply publicly called Intel 80286 a "hydrocephalus chip."

Gordon Moore can no longer let Andy Grove stand in front of him. He frankly confessed these problems and poured out his bitterness. The mass production of Intel 80386 requires a lot of investment, but now the company's funds are really tight. Can Sir Gao help?

Thinking of a way, as long as the financing is in place, I will issue a military order to solve all problems as quickly as possible.

Sir Gao, who was waiting for your words, murmured something in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "It is now common practice for companies to issue bonds in the capital market, and Intel can definitely adopt it."

Gordon Moore looked hesitant. Is Sir Gao referring to the kind of junk bonds issued by Drexel Burnham Lambert to help MCI raise US$1.1 billion? Will the interest burden be

too heavy?

"No, no, no." Sir Gao waved his hand repeatedly, "Through a reasonable combination design including convertible bonds, preferred stocks, and warrants, Gao Yi is confident that Intel's credit rating will not be so low."

Now, as Intel's largest shareholder, Goyi Group holds about 25% of Intel's shares, which basically cannot be increased, because with the rapid development of the semiconductor industry, the microprocessor sector will only become more and more important.

The more special it becomes, the more it becomes a sensitive field, so it is better to recognize some unspoken rules as early as possible, so as not to hinder Intel from becoming the dominant microprocessor like in the "old script".

However, compared to the apparent shareholding ratio, Gao Xian has more ways to consolidate his control over Intel and share more of the profits Intel earns from microprocessor development dividends. At this time, the motivation to help Intel with financing is

It comes from this.

In terms of technology, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove are professional enough; but when it comes to capital, Jazz Gao is professional. Gordon Moore and Andy Grove naturally have no reason to question, and they are indeed short of money now, so

Just issue bonds.