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Don't get me started on RAM. There's a whole lot of history there especially core memory. But to answer your specific question, Intel started off as a RAM comp
by kens 6y ago
Don't get me started on RAM. There's a whole lot of history there especially core memory.
But to answer your specific question, Intel started off as a RAM company and their first product was a 64-bit (in total) RAM chip [1]. Processors were a sideline compared to the RAM market until the mid-1980s when Intel bailed out of DRAM as Japan took over.
When Intel created a new chip process back then (HMOS through HMOS-III), they would first build a static RAM chip with the process. Once that worked, they would then use the process for microprocessors like the 8086.
[1] http://www.righto.com/2017/07/inside-intels-first-product-3101-ram.html http://www.righto.com/2017/07/inside-intels-first-product-31...
- rasz 6y agoIf you study to become MBA Intel memory business is its own separate case study https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/intel-corporation-dram-decision https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/i...
- peter303 6y agoMemory circuits were relatively easy entry points for low cost Asian countries. So about 90% of that business migrated out of US and Europe to Asia.