Microsoft Windows performance reviews

GMA X3000

A review conducted in April 2007 by The Tech Report determined that the GMA X3000 had performance comparable to the Nvidia GeForce 6150.[75] During that review the GMA X3000 was unable to run the PC games Battlefield 2 and Oblivion.[76] However, the ExtremeTech review found that games which aren't as graphically demanding, such as Sims 2 and Civilization 4, "look good" when the GMA X3000 is used to run them.[77]

Reviews performed by The Tech Report, by ExtremeTech and by Anandtech all concluded that the AMD's Radeon X1250 integrated graphics solutions based on the AMD 690G chipset was a better choice than the GMA X3000 based on the G965 chipset, especially when considering 3D gaming performance and price.[75][78][79] Updated drivers have since been released which might have significantly altered those conclusions.

GMA X3500

In a review performed by Register Hardware in December 2007,[11] author Leo Waldock argued that because the GMA X3500 is not capable of running any PC game that requires DirectX 10, the addition of DirectX 10 support to the GMA X3500 was "irrelevant".[80] During that same review, the GMA X3500 was used to run the PC games Crysis and FEAR Extraction Point, where it was able to render only 4 and 14 frames per second respectively for each game.[81] In the end the review concluded that overall the X3500 made "minimal advances" over the GMA X3000.[80]

GMA X4500

In a review published in May 2008, the GMA X4500 showed a superior game performance to the lowest end 1-year-older GeForce 8400M G dedicated graphics card, while losing to the still low-end GeForce 8400M GS with a slower CPU.

Modern gaming

The Intel GMA products are designed to allow Intel to offer a full system platform that includes graphics hardware. However, due to the GMA's nature as a highly cost-sensitive product, performance and functionality are limited relative to more expensive discrete graphics components. Some games and 3D applications will not recognize support for some hardware functionality because of the simplification of parts of these graphics accelerators. The GMA X3x00's unified shader design allows for more complete hardware functionality, but the line still has issues with some games and has significantly limited performance.[72]

Intel has put up a page with 'Known Issues & Solutions' for each version.[73] For Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Software Development concerns, there is the Integrated Graphics Software Development Forum.[74]

As with recent driver updates, more games have become playable on this hardware

Microsoft Windows -Software support

GMA 900

This IGP is theoretically capable of running Windows Vista’s Aero interface and is certified as DirectX 9 compliant. However, no WHQL certified WDDM driver has been made available. Presumably this is due to the lack of a "hardware scheduler" in the GPU.[62]

Many owners of GMA900 hardware believed they would be able to run Aero on their systems as early release candidates of Vista permitted XDDM drivers to run Aero. Intel, however, contends that Microsoft's final specs for Aero/WDDM certification did not permit releasing a WDDM driver for GMA900 (due to issues with the hardware scheduler, as mentioned above), so when the final version of Vista was released, no WDDM driver was released.[63] The last minute pulling of OpenGL capabilities from the GMA drivers for Windows Vista left a large number of GMA based workstations unable to perform basic 3D hardware acceleration with OpenGL and unable to run many Vista Premium applications such as Windows DVD Maker.

GMA 950

This IGP is capable of displaying the Aero interface for Windows Vista. Drivers have shipped with Windows Vista since beta versions were made available in mid-2006. It is integrated in many subnotebooks nowadays, such as the Acer Aspire One, including Atom processor and is able to display a resolution up to 2048x1536 at 75 Hz and up to 224MB of video memory.[64]

GMA X3000

T&L and Vertex Shaders 3.0 are supported by Intel's newest 15.6 drivers for Windows Vista as of September 2, 2007. XP support for VS3 and T&L was introduced on August 10, 2007. Intel announced in March 2007 that beta drivers would be available in June 2007.[65][66] On June 1, 2007 "pre-beta" (or Early Beta) drivers were released for Windows XP (but not for Vista).[67] Beta drivers for Vista and XP were released on June 19[68]. Since hardware T&L and vertex shading has been enabled in drivers individual applications can be forced to fall back to software rendering[69], which raises performance and compatibility in certain cases. Selection is based on testing by Intel and preselected in the driver .inf file.

Intel has released production version drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista that enable the Aero graphics. Intel introduced Direct X 10 for the X3100 and X3500 GPUs in the Vista 15.9 drivers, though any release of DX10 drivers for the X3000 is uncertain.

OpenGL 2.0 support is available since Vista 15.11 drivers[70] and XP 14.36 drivers[71]. Note that Windows and Linux drivers currently have no GLSL support.

Software support

Mac OS X

Mac OS X 10.4 supports the GMA 950, since it was used in previous revisions of the MacBook (but not MacBook Pros) and even some 17-inch iMacs.[48] It has been used in all Intel-based Mac minis.[49] Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard contains drivers for the GMA X3100, which were used in a recent revision of the MacBook range.[50]

Late-release versions of Mac OS X 10.4 also support the GMA 900 due to its use in the Apple Developer Transition Kit, which was used in the PowerPC-to-Intel transition. However, special modifications to the kext file must be made to enable Core Image and Quartz Extreme.

Although the MacBook line no longer uses the x3100, Mac OS X 10.5 ships with drivers supporting it that require no modifications to the kext file.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD 7.1 supports the following Intel graphic chipsets: G945/GME945/Q965/GM965/GME965/G33/Q33/Q35/G35/G45/Q45.

Linux

Intel has had a long history of producing or commissioning open source drivers for its graphics chips, with all chipsets dating back to the i810 having open 2D and 3D drivers for Linux. Intel is the only major graphics hardware vendor to do so. (For an analysis by company see Graphics hardware and FOSS.)

In August 2006, Intel added support to the open-source X.Org/XFree86 drivers for the latest 965 series that include the GMA (X)3000 core.[51] These drivers were developed for Intel by Tungsten Graphics.[52]

In May 2007, version 2.0 of the driver (xorg-video-intel) was released, which added support for the 965GM chipset. In addition, the 2.0 driver added native video mode programming support for all chipsets from i830 forward. This version added support for automatic video mode detection and selection, monitor hot plug, dynamic extended and merged desktops and per-monitor screen rotation. These features are built in to the X.Org 7.3 X server release and will eventually be supported across most of the open source X.Org video drivers.[53] Version 2.1, released in July 2007, added support for the G33, Q33 and Q35 chipsets.[54] G35 is also supported by the Linux driver.[55]

As is common for X.Org drivers on Linux, the license is a combination of GPL (for the Linux kernel parts) and MIT (for all other parts).[56]

The drivers were mainly developed by Intel and Tungsten Graphics (under contract) since the chipsets documentations were not publicly available for a long time. In January 2008, Intel released the complete developer documentation for their latest chipsets (965 and G35), allowing for further external developers’ involvement. [57]

intel_hal.so

The driver source contains references to a currently-unavailable binary named "intel_hal.so". It is entirely optional, and the advantages are not clear; ostensibly they are increased performance and/or additional features. References in the open source code indicate that it contains or contained (at least) Macrovision support and some minor, optional 3D optimization routines. Calls to the Macrovision code inside the binary were later removed from the 2D driver.[58][59]

GMA 500

There is no sufficient driver support for the GMA 500. The driver wasn't developed in-house and will not work with kernels newer than 2.6.24. Newer distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 with a newer kernel will not work properly.[60][61]

Hardware: graphics cores

GMA 900

The GMA 900 was the first graphics core produced under Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator product name, and was incorporated in the Intel 910G, 915G, and 915Gx chipsets.

The 3D architecture of the GMA 900 was a significant upgrade from the previous Extreme 3D graphics processors. It is a 4 pixel per clock cycle design supporting DirectX 9 pixel shader model 2.0. It operates at a clock rate ranging from 160 to 333 MHz, depending on the particular chipset. At 333 MHz, it has a peak pixel fill-rate of 1332 megapixels per second. However, the architecture still lacks support for hardware transform and lighting and the similar vertex shader technologies.

Like previous Intel integrated graphics parts, the GMA 900 has hardware support for MPEG-2 motion compensation, color-space conversion and DirectDraw overlay.

The processor uses different separate clock generators for display and render cores. The display unit includes a 400MHz RAMDAC, 2 25-200Mpixel/s serial DVO ports, and 2 display controllers. In mobile chipsets, up to 2 18-bit 25-112MHz LVDS transmitters are included.

GMA 950

The GMA 950 is Intel's second-generation Graphics Media Accelerator graphics core, which was also referred by Intel as 'Gen 3.5 Integrated Graphics Engine' in datasheets. It is used in the Intel 940GML, 945G, 945GU and 945GT system chipsets. The amount of video-decoding hardware has increased; VLD, iDCT, and dual video overlay windows are now handled in hardware[citation needed] . The maximum core clock is up to 400 MHz (on Intel 945G, 945GC, 945GZ, 945GSE), boosting pixel fill-rate to a theoretical 1600 megapixels/s.

The GMA 950 shares the same architectural weakness as the GMA 900: no hardware geometry processing. Neither basic (DX7) hardware transform and lighting,[2] nor more advanced vertex shaders (DX8 and later) are handled in the GMA hardware.

GMA 3000

The 946GZ, Q965 and Q963 chipsets use GMA 3000.[3][4] The GMA 3000 3D core is very different from the X3000, despite similar names. It is based more directly on the previous generation GMA 900 and GMA 950 graphics, and belonging to the same "i915" family with them. It has pixel and vertex shaders which only supports shader model 2.0 features, and the vertex shaders are still only software provided. In addition, hardware video acceleration such as hardware-based iDCT computation, ProcAmp (video stream independent color correction), VC-1 decoding are not implemented in hardware. Of the GMA 3000-equipped chipsets, only Q965 retains dual independent display support. The core speed is rated 400 MHz with 1.6 Gpixel/s fill rate in datasheets, but was listed as 667MHz core in white paper.[5]

Memory controller can now address maximum 256MB memory.

The integrated serial DVO ports has increased top speed to 270Mpixel/s.

GMA 3100

The G31, G33, Q33 and Q35 chipsets use the GMA 3100, which is DX9 capable. The 3D core is very similar to the older GMA 3000, including the lack of hardware accelerated vertex shaders. However, the RAMDAC is reduced to 350MHz, and the DVO ports were reduced to 225Mpixel/s.

GMA X3000

The GMA X3000 for desktop was "substantially redesigned" when compared to previous GMA iterations[6] and it is used in the Intel G965 north bridge controller.[7] The GMA X3000 was launched in July 2006.[8] X3000's underlying 3D rendering hardware is organized as a unified shader processor consisting of 8 scalar execution units. Each pipeline can process video, vertex, or texture operations. A central scheduler dynamically dispatches threads to pipeline resources, to maximize rendering throughput (and decrease the impact of individual pipeline stalls.) However, due to the scalar nature of the execution units, they can only process data on a single pixel component at a time.[9] The GMA X3000 supports DirectX 9.0 with vertex and pixel Shader Model 3.0 features.

The processor consists of different clock domains, meaning that the entire chip does not operate the same clock speed. This causes some difficulty when measuring peak throughput of its various functions. Further adding to the confusion, it is listed as 667MHz in Intel G965 white paper, but listed as 400MHz in Intel G965 datasheet. There are various rules that define the IGP's processing capabilities.[9]

Memory controller can now address maximum 384MB memory according to white paper, but only 256MB in datasheet.

GMA X3100

The GMA X3100 is the mobile version of the GMA X3000 used in the Intel GL960 and GM965 chipsets. The X3100 supports hardware transform and lighting, up to 128 programmable shader units, and up to 384 MB memory. Its display cores can run up to 333 MHz on GM965 and 320 MHz on GL960. Its render cores can run up to 500 MHz on GM965 and 400 MHz on GL960. The X3100 display unit includes a 300 MHz RAMDAC, two 25-112 MHz LVDS transmitters, 2 DVO encoders, and a TV encoder. In addition, along with the latest drivers, the product supports DirectX 10.0[10], Shader Model 4.0 and OpenGL 2.0.

GMA X3500

GMA X3500 is an upgrade of the GMA X3000 and used in the desktop G35. The shaders support shader model 4.0 features. Architecturally, the GMA X3500 is very similar to the GMA X3000,[11] with both GMAs running at 667MHz. The major difference between them is that the GMA X3500 supports Shader Model 4.0 and DirectX 10, whereas the earlier X3000 supports Shader Model 3.0 and DirectX 9.[11] The X3500 also adds hardware-assistance for playback of VC-1 video.

GMA X4500

The GMA X4500 and the GMA X4500HD for desktop[12] were launched in June 2008.[13] The GMA X4500 is used in the G43 chipset[14] and the GMA X4500HD is used in the G45 chipset.[12] The GMA X4500 will also be used in the G41 chipset,[15] which is to be released in the fourth quarter of 2008.[16]

The GMA 4500MHD for laptop, launched on July 16, 2008. Featurewise, the 4500MHD is identical to its desktop cousin, the X4500HD.[citation needed]It had been previously rumored that a cost-reduced version, the GMA 4500, was to be launched in late 2008 or early 2009[17] and was to be used in the upcoming Q43 and Q45 chipsets.[15] But in practice the Q43 and Q45 Chipsets also use the GMA X4500[18]

The difference between the GMA X4500 and the GMA X4500HD is that the GMA X4500HD is capable of "full 1080p high-definition video playback, including Blu-ray disc movies",[12] the GMA X4500 however does not have that capability.[13] The G43 and the G45 chipsets are manufactured with 65nm technology.[19]

Like the X3500, X4500 supports DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 features. Intel designed the GMA X4500 to be 200% faster than the GMA 3100 (G33 chipset) in 3DMark06 performance[20] and 70% faster than the GMA X3500 (G35 chipset).[21]

GMA 500

The Intel System Controller Hub US15W for the Atom processor Z5xx series features a GMA 500 graphic system. Rather than being developed in-house, this core is a PowerVR SGX core licensed from Imagination Technologies.[22]

Intel describes this as "a flexible, programmable architecture that supports shader-based technology, 2D, 3D and advanced 3D graphics, high-definition video decode, and image processing. Features include screen tiling, internal true color processing, zero overhead anti-aliasing, programmable shader 3D accelerator, and 32-bit floating-point operations.

History

The GMA line of GPUs replaces the earlier “Extreme Graphics”, Intel’s first series of integrated graphics chips, and Intel740 line, which were discrete units in the form of AGP cards.

The original architecture of GMA systems supported only a few functions in hardware, and relied on the host CPU to handle at least some of the graphics pipeline, further decreasing performance. However, with the introduction of Intel’s 4th generation of GMA architecture (GMA X3000) in 2006, many of the functions are now built into the hardware, providing an increase in performance. The 4th generation of GMA combines fixed function capabilities with a threaded array of programmable executions units, providing advantages to both graphics and video performance. Many of the advantages of the new GMA architecture come from the ability to flexibly switch as needed between executing graphics-related tasks or video-related tasks. While GMA performance has been widely criticized in the past as being too slow for computer games, the latest GMA generation should ease many of those concerns for the casual gamer.

Despite similarities, Intel's main series of GMA IGPs is not based on the PowerVR technology Intel licensed from Imagination Technologies. Intel used the low-power PowerVR MBX designs in chipsets supporting their XScale platform, and since the sale of XScale in 2006 has licensed the PowerVR SGX and used it in the GMA 500 IGP for use with their Atom platform.

Intel has begun working on a new series of discrete (non-integrated) graphics hardware products, under the codename Larrabee.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is Intel's current line of graphics processors (GPUs) built into various motherboard chipsets.

These integrated graphics products allow a computer to be built without a separate graphics card, which can reduce cost and power consumption. They are commonly found on low-priced notebook and desktop computers as well as business computers, which do not need high levels of graphics capability. 90% of all PCs sold have integrated graphics.[1] They rely on the computer's main memory for storage, which imposes a performance penalty as both the CPU and GPU have to access memory over the same bus.

Intel Museum

The Intel Museum located at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, has exhibits of Intel's products and history as well as semiconductor technology in general.[1][2] The museum is open weekdays and Saturdays except holidays. It is open to the public with free admission.[3]

The museum was started in the early 1980's as an internal project at Intel to record its history. It opened to the public in 1992, later being expanded in 1999 to triple its size and add a store. It has exhibits about how semiconductor chip technology works, both as self-paced exhibits and by reservation as grade-school educational programs.

COUNTRIES - AMD vs intel

Japan

In 2005, the company violated Japanese Antimonopoly Act, local Fair Trade Commission concluded. The commission ordered Intel to eliminate discounts that discriminated its competitor Advanced Micro Devices. To avoid a trial, Intel agreed to comply with the order.

.European Union

In July 2007, the European Commission formally accused Intel of anti-competitive practices, mostly against its main competitor AMD. The allegations, going back to 2003, include giving preferential prices to computermakers getting most or all chips from Intel, paying computer makers to delay or cancel the launch of products using AMD chips and providing chips at below cost to governments and educational institutions.Intel responded that the allegations were unfounded and instead qualified its market behavior as consumer-friendly. General counsel Bruce Sewell also responded that the Commission had misunderstood some factual assumptions concerning price and manufacturing costs.

In February 2008, a spokesman for the company announced that Intel's office in Munich had been raided by European Union competition regulators investigating its business practices. Intel reported that it was cooperating with investigators. If found guilty of stifling competition, Intel could be fined up to 10% of its annual revenue.Rival AMD also subsequently launched a website focusing on these allegations.In June 2008 the EU has filed new competition charges against Intel.

.South Korea

In September 2007, South Korean regulators formally accused Intel of breaking antitrust law. The inquiry began in February 2006 when officials raided Intel's South Korean offices. The company risked being fined up to 3% of its annual sales if found guilty.In June 2008, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission ordered Intel to pay a fine of $25.5 million for taking advantage of its dominant position to offer incentives to major Korean PC manufacturers on the condition of not buying products from rival AMD.

.United States

New York started an investigation of Intel in January 2008 on whether the company violated antitrust laws in pricing and sales of its microprocessors.[In June 2008 Federal Trade Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation for this case.

Lawsuits

In September 2005, Intel filed its response to an AMD lawsuit,[55] disputing AMD's claims, and stating that its business practices are fair and lawful. In its rebuttal, Intel laid out the skeleton of its legal defense, which included a deconstruction of AMD's offensive strategy and levied the charge that AMD's long struggling market position is largely a result of bad business decisions and management incompetence, including underinvestment in essential manufacturing capacity and over-reliance on contracting out chip foundries.

Legal experts predict the lawsuit will most likely drag out for a number of years, since Intel's response indicates they are not likely to try to settle with AMD. A court date has been granted in 2010.[59]

In October 2006, a Transmeta lawsuit was filed against Intel for patent infringement covering computer architecture and power efficiency technologies. In October 2007, the Transmeta-Intel lawsuit was settled, with Intel agreeing to pay an initial US$150 million and US$20 million per year for the next 5 years. Both companies agreed to drop lawsuits against each other while Intel was granted a perpetual non-exclusive license to use current and future patented Transmeta technologies in its chips for 10 years.

.Anti-competitive allegations by regulatory bodies

Competition

During the 1980s, Intel was among the top ten worldwide semiconductor sales leaders (10th in 1987), dominated by Japanese chip makers. In 1991, Intel achieved the number one ranking and has held it ever since. Other top semiconductor companies include AMD, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics.

Further information: Semiconductor sales leaders by year

Competitors in PC chipsets include VIA Technologies, SiS, ATI, and Nvidia. Intel's competitors in networking include Freescale, Infineon, Broadcom, Marvell Technology Group and AMCC, and its competitors in flash memory include Spansion, Samsung, Qimonda, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, and Hynix.

The only major competitor to Intel on the x86 processor market is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with which Intel has had full cross-licensing agreements since 1976: each partner can use the other's patented technological innovations without charge after a certain time.[53] However, the cross-licensing agreement is canceled in the event of an AMD bankruptcy or takeover.[54] Some smaller competitors such as VIA and Transmeta produce low-power processors for small factor computers and portable equipment.

Environmental record

In 2003 there were 1.4 tons of carbon tetrachloride measured from one of Intel's many acid scrubbers. However, Intel reported zero release of carbon tetrachloride for all of 2003. Intel's facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico overlooks a nearby village, and the hilly contours of its location create a setting for chemical gases heavier than air to move along arroyos and irrigation ditches in that village. This has reportedly led to adverse effects in both animals and humans. Examinations of deceased dogs from the area have returned reports of high levels of toluene, hexane, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers in their lungs.[51]

In the June-July time frame of 2006, Intel reported that there were VOC releases of more than 1580 pounds.

Intel's new logo

Intel's new logo

(December 2005–Present)

In March 2007, the Intel logo was shown briefly in one of the scenes of the movie, "The Last Mimzy."

As from 2008, Intel plans to shift the emphasis of its "Intel Inside" campaign from traditional media such as television and print to newer media such as the Internet.[41] Intel will require that a minimum of 35% of the money it provides to the companies in its co-op program be used for online marketing.[41]

Intel's "Intel Inside" campaign has generally been considered to be world class marketing. However, over the years there have been several plays on the Intel branding scheme which have appeared on the web. While such jabs at Intel are obviously beyond the company's ability to control, they do tend to show that not everyone believes that Intel's programs and policies are always world class[citation needed]. For example, there is the popular "evil inside" logo,[42] the ubiquitous picture of a tombstone with "R.I.P Intel Inside"[43]

.Sonic logo

The famous "D♭  D♭  G♭  D♭  A♭" jingle, sonic logo, tag, audio mnemonic (MP3 file of sonic logo) was produced by Musikvergnuegen and written by Walter Werzowa from the Austrian 1980s sampling band Edelweiss.[44]

.Open source support

Some parts of this section may be misleading.

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This article or section needs to be updated. Please update the article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished.

Intel has a significant participation in the open source communities. For example, in 2006 Intel released MIT-licensed X.org drivers for their integrated graphic cards of the i965 family of chipsets. On other occasions, Intel released FreeBSD drivers for some networking cards,[45] available under a BSD-compatible licence, which were also ported to OpenBSD. Intel also released its EFI core named as EDK under a BSD-compatible licence. Intel runs Moblin project and LessWatts.org campaigns.[46]

However, after the release of the wireless products called Intel Pro/Wireless 2100, 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG and 3945ABG in 2005, Intel was criticized for not granting free redistribution rights for the firmwares that are necessary to be included in the operating systems for the wireless devices to operate.[47] As a result of this, Intel became a target of campaigns to allow free operating systems to include binary firmwares on terms acceptable to the open source community. Linspire-Linux creator Michael Robertson outlined the difficult position that Intel was in releasing to Open Source, as Intel did not want to upset their large customer Microsoft.[48] Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD also claimed that Intel is being "an Open Source fraud" after an Intel employee presented a distorted view of the situation on an open-source conference.[49] In spite of the significant negative attention Intel received as a result of the wireless dealings, the binary firmware still has not gained a license compatible with free software principles.

Finances

Intel stock price, Nov 1986 - Nov 2006

Intel's market capitalization is $77.14 billion (November 6, 2008). It publicly trades on NASDAQ with the symbol INTC. A widely-held stock, the following indices comprise Intel shares: Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, SOX (PHLX Semiconductor Sector), and GSTI Software Index.

On July 15, 2008, Intel announced that it had achieved the highest earnings in the history of the company during Q2 2008.

.Advertising and brand management

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Intel's old logo

(1968–December 2005)

Intel has become one of the world's most recognizable computer brands following its long-running "Intel Inside" campaign. The campaign, which started in 1991,[38] was created by Intel marketing manager Dennis Carter.[39] The five-note jingle was introduced the following year and by its tenth anniversary was being heard in 130 countries around the world.

The Intel Inside program was supportive of advertisers and further served to broaden the company's awareness as a key ingredient inside PCs. Intel paid some of the advertiser's costs for an ad that used the "Intel Inside" logo. If the ads did not meet agreed upon requirements, Intel was not obligated to reimburse costs. PC companies advertising products containing Intel chips include the jingle in their film and television advertisements in order to receive the reimbursement.

Diversity Initiative

Intel has a Diversity Initiative, including employee diversity groups as well as supplier diversity programs.[30] Like many companies with employee diversity groups, they include groups based on race and nationality as well as sexual identity and religion. In 1994, Intel sanctioned one of the earliest corporate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender employee groups,[31] and supports a Muslim employees group,[32] a Jewish employees group,[33] and a Bible-based Christian group.[34][35]

Intel received a 100% rating on the first Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2002. It has maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2005 by Working Mother magazine. However, Intel's working practices still face criticism, most notably from Ken Hamidi,[36] a former employee who has been subject to multiple unsuccessful lawsuits from Intel.

.Funding of a school

In Rio Rancho, New Mexico Intel is the leading employer in the city of Rio Rancho. In 1997, constructed through a community partnership with Sandoval County and Intel Corporation they had built Rio Rancho High School.

Corporate affairs

In September 2006, Intel had nearly 100,000 employees and 200 facilities world wide. Its 2005 revenues were $38.8 billion and its Fortune 500 ranking was 49th. Its stock symbol is INTC, listed on the NASDAQ.

.Leadership and corporate structure

Robert Noyce was Intel's CEO at its founding in 1968, followed by co-founder Gordon Moore in 1975. Andy Grove became the company's President in 1979 and added the CEO title in 1987 when Moore became Chairman. In 1997 Grove succeeded Moore as Chairman, and Craig Barrett, already company president, took over. On May 18, 2005, Barrett handed the reins of the company over to Paul Otellini, who previously was the company president and was responsible for Intel's design win in the original IBM PC. The board of directors elected Otellini CEO, and Barrett replaced Grove as Chairman of the Board. Grove stepped down as Chairman, but is retained as a special adviser.

Current members of the board of directors of Intel are Craig Barrett, Charlene Barshefsky, Susan Decker, James Guzy, Reed Hundt, Paul Otellini, James Plummer, David Pottruck, Jane Shaw, John Thornton, and David Yoffie.[26]

.Employment

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Intel microprocessor facility in Costa Rica was responsible in 2006 for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 4.9% of the country's GDP.[27]

Unlike its Silicon Valley counterparts, Intel has a fairly strict meritocracy that rewards work generously and does not keep underperforming employees around for very long. However, the workplace environment is fairly casual and the company heavily promotes a Work/Life balance. Employees tend to dress casually and speak precisely[citation needed].

The firm promotes very heavily from within, most notably in its executive suite. The company has resisted the trend toward outsider CEOs. Paul Otellini was a 30-year veteran of the company when he assumed the role of CEO. All of his top lieutenants have risen through the ranks after many years with the firm. In many cases, Intel's top executives have spent their entire working careers with Intel, a very rare occurrence in volatile Silicon Valley[citation needed].

Intel has a mandatory retirement policy for its CEO when they reach age 65, but only one CEO, Barrett, has actually retired at 65. Previous CEOs all retired before reaching that age; Grove retired at 62, while both Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore retired at 58. At 57, Otellini has a long career at the helm ahead of him, assuming he goes until age 65 and performs satisfactorily.

No one has an office; everyone, even Otellini, sits in a cubicle. This is designed to promote egalitarianism among employees, but some new hires have difficulty adjusting to this change[citation needed]. Intel is not alone in this policy. Hewlett-Packard, Blizzard Entertainment have similar no-office policy, as does NVIDIA.

Outside of California, the company has facilities in China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Mexico, Israel, Ireland, India, Philippines, Poland, Russia, and Vietnam internationally. In the U.S. Intel employs significant numbers of people in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Utah.[28] In Oregon, Intel is the state's largest employer with over 16,000 employees, primarily in Hillsboro.[29] The company is the largest industrial employer in New Mexico while in Arizona the company has over 10,000 employees.

Partnership with Apple

For more details on this topic, see Apple Intel transition.

On June 6, 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be transitioning from its long favored PowerPC architecture to the Intel x86 architecture, because the future PowerPC road map was unable to satisfy Apple's needs. The first Macintosh computers containing Intel CPUs were announced on January 10, 2006, and Apple had its entire line of consumer Macs running on Intel processors by early August 2006. The Apple Xserve server was updated to Intel Xeon processors from November 2006, and is offered in a configuration similar to Apple's Mac Pro.[23]

.Core 2 Duo advertisement controversy

In 2007, the company released a print advertisement for its Core 2 Duo processor featuring six African American runners appearing to bow down to a Caucasian male inside of an office setting (due to the posture taken by runners on starting blocks). According to Nancy Bhagat, Vice President of Intel Corporate Marketing, the general public found the ad to be "insensitive and insulting".[24] The campaign was quickly pulled and several Intel executives made public apologies on the corporate website.[25]

.Classmate PC

Intel's Classmate PC is the company's first low-cost Netbook computer.

AMD v. Intel

Two factors combined to end this dominance: the slowing of PC demand growth beginning in 2000 and the rise of the low cost PC. By the end of the 1990s, microprocessor performance had outstripped software demand for that CPU power. Aside from high-end server systems and software, demand for which dropped with the end of the "dot-com bubble", consumer systems ran effectively on increasingly low-cost systems after 2000. Intel's strategy of producing ever-more-powerful processors and obsoleting their predecessors stumbled, leaving an opportunity for rapid gains by competitors, notably AMD. This in turn lowered the profitability of the processor line and ended an era of unprecedented dominance of the PC hardware by Intel.[citation needed]

Intel's dominance in the x86 microprocessor market led to numerous charges of antitrust violations over the years, including FTC investigations in both the late 1980s and in 1999, and civil actions such as the 1997 suit by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and a patent suit by Intergraph. Intel's market dominance (at one time it controlled over 85% of the market for 32-bit PC microprocessors) combined with Intel's own hardball legal tactics (such as its infamous 338 patent suit versus PC manufacturers) made it an attractive target for litigation, but few of the lawsuits ever amounted to anything.

A case of industrial espionage arose in 1995 that involved both Intel and AMD. Guillermo Gaede, an Argentine formerly employed both at AMD and at Intel's Arizona plant, was arrested for attempting in 1993 to sell the i486 and Pentium designs to AMD and to certain foreign powers. Gaede videotaped data from his computer screen at Intel and mailed it to AMD, which immediately alerted Intel and authorities, resulting in Gaede's arrest. Gaede was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in prison in June 1996.

Pentium flaw

Main article: Pentium FDIV bug

In June 1994, Intel engineers discovered a flaw in the floating-point math subsection of the Pentium microprocessor. Under certain data dependent conditions, low order bits of the result of floating-point division operations would be incorrect, an error that can quickly compound in floating-point operations to much larger errors in subsequent calculations. Intel corrected the error in a future chip revision, but nonetheless declined to disclose it.[citation needed]

In October 1994, Dr. Thomas Nicely, Professor of Mathematics at Lynchburg College independently discovered the bug, and upon receiving no response from his inquiry to Intel, on October 30 posted a message on the Internet.[17] Word of the bug spread quickly on the Internet and then to the industry press. Because the bug was easy to replicate by an average user (there was a sequence of numbers one could enter into the OS calculator to show the error), Intel's statements that it was minor and "not even an erratum" were not accepted by many computer users. During Thanksgiving 1994, The New York Times ran a piece by journalist John Markoff spotlighting the error. Intel changed its position and offered to replace every chip, quickly putting in place a large end-user support organization. This resulted in a $500 million charge against Intel's 1994 revenue.

Ironically, the "Pentium flaw" incident, Intel's response to it, and the surrounding media coverage propelled Intel from being a technology supplier generally unknown to most computer users to a household name. Dovetailing with an uptick in the "Intel Inside" campaign, the episode is considered by some to have been a positive event for Intel, changing some of its business practices to be more end-user focused and generating substantial public awareness, while avoiding (for most users) a lasting negative impression.[18]

.Intel Inside, Intel Systems Division, and Intel Architecture Labs

During this period, Intel undertook two major supporting programs that helped guarantee their processor's success. The first is widely-known: the 1990 "Intel Inside" marketing and branding campaign. This campaign established Intel, which had been a component supplier little-known outside the PC industry, as a household name. The second program is little-known: Intel's Systems Group began, in the early 1990s, manufacturing PC "motherboards", the main board component of a personal computer, and the one into which the processor (CPU) and memory (RAM) chips are plugged. Shortly after, Intel began manufacturing fully-configured "white box" systems for the dozens of PC clone companies that rapidly sprang up. At its peak in the mid-1990s, Intel manufactured over 15% of all PCs, making it the third-largest supplier at the time. By manufacturing leading-edge PC motherboards systems, Intel enabled smaller manufacturers to compete with larger manufacturers, accelerating the adoption of the newest microprocessors and system architecture, including the PCI bus, USB and other innovations. This led to more rapid adoption of each of its new processors in turn.[citation needed]

During the 1990s, Intel's Architecture Lab (IAL) was responsible for many of the hardware innovations of the personal computer, including the PCI Bus, the PCI Express (PCIe) bus, the Universal Serial Bus (USB), Bluetooth wireless interconnect, and the now-dominant architecture for multiprocessor servers. IAL's software efforts met with a more mixed fate; its video and graphics software was important in the development of software digital video, but later its efforts were largely overshadowed by competition from Microsoft. The competition between Intel and Microsoft was revealed in testimony by IAL Vice-President Steven McGeady at the Microsoft antitrust trial.

Another factor contributing to rapid adoption of Intel's processors during this period were the successive release of Microsoft Windows operating systems, each requiring significantly greater processor resources. The releases of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000 provided impetus for successive generations of hardware.

.Competition, antitrust and espionage

486, Pentium, and Itanium

Intel introduced the 486 microprocessor in 1989, and in 1990 formally established a second design team, designing the processors code-named "P5" and "P6" in parallel and committing to a major new processor every two years, versus the four or more years such designs had previously taken. The P5 was earlier known as "Operation Bicycle" referring to the cycles of the processor. The P5 was introduced in 1993 as the Intel Pentium, substituting a trademarked name for the former part number (numbers, like 486, cannot be trademarked). The P6 followed in 1995 as the Pentium Pro and improved into the Pentium II in 1997. New architectures were developed alternately in Santa Clara, California and Hillsboro, Oregon.

The Santa Clara design team embarked in 1993 on a successor to the x86 architecture, codenamed "P7". The first attempt was dropped a year later, but quickly revived in a cooperative program with Hewlett-Packard engineers, though Intel soon took over primary design responsibility. The resulting implementation of the IA-64 64-bit architecture was the Itanium, finally introduced in June 2001. The Itanium's performance running legacy x86 code did not achieve expectations, and it failed to effectively compete with 64-bit extensions to the original x86 architecture, first from AMD (the AMD64), then from Intel itself (the Intel 64 architecture, formerly known as EM64T). As of November 2007, Intel continues to develop and deploy the Itanium.

The Hillsboro team designed the Willamette processor (code-named P67 and P68) which was marketed as the Pentium 4, and later developed the 64-bit extensions to the x86 architecture, present in some versions of the Pentium 4 and in the Intel Core 2 chips. Many chip variants were developed at an office in Haifa, Israel.

Intel, x86 processors, and the IBM PC

The integrated circuit from an Intel 8742, an 8-bit microcontroller that includes a CPU running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in the same chip.

Despite the ultimate importance of the microprocessor, the 4004 and its successors the 8008 and the 8080 were never major revenue contributors at Intel. As the next processor, the 8086 (and its variant the 8088) was completed in 1978, Intel embarked on a major marketing and sales campaign for that chip nicknamed "Operation Crush", and intended to win as many customers for the processor as possible. One design win was the newly-created IBM PC division, though the importance of this was not fully realized at the time.

IBM introduced its personal computer in 1981, and it was rapidly successful. In 1982, Intel created the 80286 microprocessor, which, two years later, was used in the IBM PC/AT. Compaq, the first IBM PC "clone" manufacturer, produced a desktop system based on the faster 80286 processor in 1985 and in 1986 quickly followed with the first 80386-based system, beating IBM and establishing a competitive market for PC-compatible systems and setting up Intel as a key component supplier.

In 1975 the company had started a project to develop a highly-advanced 32-bit microprocessor, finally released in 1981 as the Intel iAPX 432. The project was too ambitious and the processor was never able to meet its performance objectives, and it failed in the marketplace. Intel extended the x86 architecture to 32 bits instead.[14][15]

.386 microprocessor

During this period Andrew Grove dramatically redirected the company, closing much of its DRAM business and directing resources to the microprocessor business. Of perhaps greater importance was his decision to "single-source" the 386 microprocessor. Prior to this, microprocessor manufacturing was in its infancy, and manufacturing problems frequently reduced or stopped production, interrupting supplies to customers. To mitigate this risk, these customers typically insisted that multiple manufacturers produce chips they could use to ensure a consistent supply. The 8080 and 8086-series microprocessors were produced by several companies, notably Zilog and AMD. Grove made the decision not to license the 386 design to other manufacturers, instead producing it in three geographically distinct factories in Santa Clara, California; Hillsboro, Oregon; and the Phoenix, Arizona suburb of Chandler; and convincing customers that this would ensure consistent delivery. As the success of Compaq's Deskpro 386 established the 386 as the dominant CPU choice, Intel achieved a position of near-exclusive dominance as its supplier. Profits from this funded rapid development of both higher-performance chip designs and higher-performance manufacturing capabilities, propelling Intel to a position of unquestioned leadership by the early 1990s.

Market history

SRAMS and the microprocessor

The company's first products were shift register memory and random-access memory integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive DRAM, SRAM, and ROM markets throughout the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers Marcian Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor and Masatoshi Shima invented the first microprocessor. Originally developed for the Japanese company Busicom to replace a number of ASICs in a calculator already produced by Busicom, the Intel 4004 was introduced to the mass market on November 15, 1971, though the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s. (Note: Intel is usually given credit with Texas Instruments for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)

.From DRAM to microprocessors

In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from Japanese memory-chip manufacturers, and then-President Andy Grove drove the company into a focus on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book Only the Paranoid Survive. A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the popular 8086 microprocessor.

Until then, manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories, and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such as Zilog and AMD. When the PC industry boomed in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.

Corporate history

Intel headquarters in Santa Clara

Intel was founded in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore (a chemist and physicist) and Robert Noyce (a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit) when they left Fairchild Semiconductor. A number of other Fairchild employees also went on to participate in other Silicon Valley companies. Intel's third employee was Andy Grove,[8] a chemical engineer, who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. Grove is now remembered as the company's key business and strategic leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most successful businesses in the world.[citation needed]

.Origin of the name

At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company Moore Noyce. The name, however, sounded remarkably similar to more noise — an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise is typically associated with bad interference. They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or Intel for short. However, Intel was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning.

.Company's evolution

Intel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary products were static random access memory (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices.

While Intel created the first microprocessor (Intel 4004) in 1971 and one of the first microcomputers in 1972,[11][12] by the early 1980s its business was dominated by dynamic random access memory chips. However, increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had, by 1983, dramatically reduced the profitability of this market, and the sudden success of the IBM personal computer convinced then-CEO Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors, and to change fundamental aspects of that business model. By the end of the 1980s this decision had proven successful, and Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary (and most profitable) hardware supplier to the PC industry.

After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed and competitors garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range, and Intel's dominant position was reduced. In the early 2000s then-CEO Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful.

In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility) which led to the hiring of over 20,000 new employees. In September 2006 due to falling profits, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in layoffs of 10,500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July 2006. Its research lab located at Cambridge University was closed at the end of 2006.

.Sale of XScale processor business

On June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's XScale assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business to Marvell Technology Group for an estimated $600 million in cash and the assumption of unspecified liabilities. The move is intended to permit Intel to focus its resources on its core x86 and server businesses. The acquisition was completed on November 9, 2006.

INTEL HISTORY

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC; SEHK: 4335) is the world's largest semiconductor company and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Founded on July 18, 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in Santa Clara, California, USA, Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names.

Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until the early 1980s. While Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became their primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the PC industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes controversial tactics in defense of its market position, as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry.The 2007 rankings of the world's 100 most powerful brands published by Millward Brown Optimor showed the company's brand value falling 10 places – from number 15 to number 25.

In addition to its work in semiconductors, Intel has begun research in electrical transmission and generation