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_Intel: The Corporation _
By: Brett
"A corporation is a business that, although owned by one or more investors,
legally has the rights and duties of an individual. Corporations have the
right to buy, sell, and own property. Corporations may make legal contracts,
hire and fire workers, set prices, and be sued, fined, and taxed. A business
must obtain a charter of incorporation from a state legislature or Congress to
be legally recognized as a corporation."(Watson, p211) While corporations
didn't exist until the mid to late 1800s, the idea of the corporation had
existed since the early 1600s. It all started with English merchants who
started trading companies to help fund the early colonies. If the colonies
thrived, the stockholders reaped in the profit. (Watson, p211) A corporation
is started when a sole proprietorship, a one-owner business, that is the most
common form of business institution in the US, or a partnership, an
association of two or more people in order to run a business, decides that
they don't want to be personally responsible for any loss the company might
have. (Watson, p211) Or they might decide that they want the company to "live
on" after they die, that is for the business to have "unlimited life". Since
neither of these goals can be reached with a sole proprietorship, or a
partnership, the owner (or owners, as the case may be) decide that he (they)
want to "convert" their business to a corporation. The owner(s) file a charter
of incorporation from the government to be legally recognized as a
corporation. (Boyd, March, 99) The owner(s) then sell shares of stock,
documents representing ownership in the corporation, to investors. These
investors buy and sell the stock to small investors, or stockholders. Since
there is no limit to the number of shareholders to a company, the investors
vote (for every share you own you get one vote) on a board of directors. The
board of directors are in charge of hiring the people responsible for the
every-day running of the corporation. These positions include, but are not
limited to: the president, vice president, and other chief administrators.
(Watson, p211-212) If a corporation reaps a profit, investors may receive a
dividend, or a share of the monetary gain made by the company. The elected
board of directors choose whether the money will go towards profit, expansion
of the company, modernization of the company, or research and development.
(Watson, p212) "With about 85% of the microprocessor market, Intel is
definitely inside. Its microprocessors -- including the Pentium -- have been
providing brains for IBM-compatible PCs 1981."(http://thestandard.net
.) Intel
started on July 16, 1968 when magnetic core memory was the leading technology
at the time. They were trying to make semi-conductor memory practical with
silicon memory. Unfortunately for Intel semi-conductor memory cost 100 times
more than magnetic core memory, but the silicon had many advantages - smaller
size, greater performance, and reduced energy consumption. Then, in late
1968,the Japanese company Busicom asked Intel to produce a series of chips
(twelve chips for every unit) for a group of programmable calculators that
they were producing. Normally, chips were made specifically for each product.
Well, the designers at Intel decided that they would make a general purpose
logical chip to replace all of the many different varieties of chips that
would go into the different electronics. The logical chip was a major success;
the only problem was that Busicom had the rights to the chip. Realizing that
this chip could have a major impact on society, the founders Bob Noyce and
Gordon Moore praised the new chip, while people in the corporation still
wanted to stick with producing memory. Intel bought the rights to the chip
from the struggling Japanese company for $60,000, and this "paved the way for
Intel's developing vision of ubiquitous (universal) microprocessor-based
computing."(
/cn71898a.htm). The 4004 microprocessor set was introduced near
the end of 1971. "Smaller than a thumbnail and packing 2300 transistors, the
$200 chip delivered as much computing power as the first electronic computer,
ENIAC. By comparison, ENIAC relied on 18,000 vacuum tubes packed into 3,000
cubic feet when it was built in 1946. The 4004 executed 60,000 operations in
one second, primitive by today's standards, but a major breakthrough at the
time."."(
/cn71898a.htm). Directly after the 4004, Intel introduced the 8008
microprocessor, which processed eight bits of information at a time, twice as
much as the original chip. This technological break-through put
microprocessors everywhere, from fast food restaurants to airport control
towers. Yet no one had thought of the personal computer, until; Intel Chairman
Emeritus Moore remembers, "In the mid-1970s, someone came to me with an idea
for what was basically the PC. The idea was that we could outfit an 8080
processor with a keyboard and a monitor and sell it in the home market. I
asked, 'What's it good for?' And the only answer was that a housewife could
keep her recipes on it. I personally didn't see anything useful in it, so we
never gave it another thought." Intel decided that they would try to become
the processor-manufacture for IBM. They received some static at first, but
eventually; Intel's long-term commitment to the microprocessor product line
and ability to produce in large masses convinced IBM to choose the 8088 chip
processor for the first personal computer. Intel was thrilled at the thought,
but had no idea the PC would become so popular. The Intel sales engineer who
worked with IBM on the project recalled, "At the time, a great account was one
that generated 10,000 units a year. Nobody comprehended the scale of the PC
business would grow to tens of millions of units every
year."."(
/cn71898a.htm) In 1982, Intel introduced the 286 chip. With 134,000
transistors, it was three times as powerful as the current chips. This 286
chip was first used in IBM's very memorable machine, the PC-AT. In 1985, the
Intel386 processor came off the showroom floor. With 275,000 transistors, the
chip was a huge jump from the competition. The Deskpro by Compaq was the first
PC that used the 386 chip. The Intel 486 processor was released in 1989. This
new chip had all the fixins': 1.2 million transistors and was the
record-breaking first chip to have the first built-in math coprocessor. In
1993, Intel introduced a processor with five times the speed of the 486, the
Pentium processor. The Pentium chip uses 3.1 million transistors. In 1997
Intel started introduced its MMX technology, a breed of chip build for high
multimedia performance. After MMX took hold, it is now standard on all Pentium
processors. In 1998 the Pentium II chip was released with incredible speed and
mind-blowing processing power. ."(
/cn71898a.htm) The Intel Corporation is an
amazing company that will be around for a very long time. As of 1997 the
company was worth $26,273,000,000. The CEO of Intel is Craig R. Barrett.
Intel, as of 1997, had 63,700 employees on its roster. In my personal opinion,
I feel that Intel is a very reliable chip manufacturer, I buy only Intel brand
processors because of their reliability, and I would proudly join their
workforce if at all possible Stock Exchange: "market for the sale and
purchase of securities of corporations and municipalities, and, in some cases,
of certificates representing commodities of trade."(Funk and Wagnalls p359)
The first stock exchange to be built was in Antwerp, Belgium in 1531. In 1773
the brokers of London formed an exchange in England. In New York City, brokers
met to exchange stocks under a button tree until they organized the New York
Stock Exchange. (Sobel, p904) The NYSE only let in stocks that it deemed "good
enough". Those that didn't pass the test where traded outside on the curb of
the NYSE building. This "curb exchange" later formed the American Stock
Exchange, or the ASEX. (Edustock
/3088/) In the 1920's the American economy
was booming, due in an increase in industrialization, and an increase in
technology. There was an increase in wages, an increase in spending, and an
increase in stock prices. People bought billions of dollars worth of stock -on
margin, mind you- and economists said that the uprise would continue. Because
of the large number of people buying in margin, left the stock market in a
vulnerable position. Many stockholders, ready to reap a fortune, invested all
they had, even mortgaged their homes and emptied their bank accounts. As the
prices spiraled higher and higher, economists began warring people of the
turmoil that could lie ahead, but everyone was interested in making money and
paid no heed. Finally, in October of 1929, the purchasing frenzy calmed, but
then burst into a selling bonanza. On Thursday, October 24th, 1929 the strong
iron bars of the U.S. economy began to give way. Stock prices fell to the
floor as investors struggled desperately to sell. When the New York Stock
Exchange closed that day, it had lost over four billion dollars. By the next
Monday, the 28th, a widespread panic took form. Thousands of investors, some
"normal", working citizens, were ruined financially. By the end of 1929, stock
values had dropped by fifteen billion dollars. (www.thehistorychannel.co.uk)
"There have been many market crashes since 1929 however this is the one that
had the greatest impact. It is still to early to say for sure whether the
economic situation that is effecting global stock markets will result in such
a scenario. The only fact that is certain is that we are in the middle of a
large correction in the value of global stock prices. With crises in Asia,
Latin America and now Russia rolling from one to another, the fear of a 1929
style crash is once again with us."(www.thehistorychannel.co.uk)
_Bibliography _
"Boyd, Donald. Economics Lecture: Corporations, March 1999 Company Profile-The
Intel Corporation" The Industry Standard. 1999.
http://thestandard.net/companies/company_display/0,159 1,13787,00.html
(3/17/99) Edustock, http://tqd.advanced.org/3088/ (3/23/99) Intel Corporation,
www.intel.com: The following documents were used under this domain:
/pressroom/archive/releases/Cn31799a.htm?iid=cnfy+cn19&(3/17/99)
/pressroom/archive/backgrnd/cn71898a.htm (3/17/99)
/pressroom/archive/backgrnd/cn71898c.htm (3/17/99)
/pressroom/archive/backgrnd/cn71898d.htm (3/17/99)
/pressroom/kits/prfaqs.htm (3/17/99) Sobel, Robert. "Stock Exchange." World
Book Encyclopedia "Stock Exchange." Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia "Stock
Market Crash of 1929 Repeated? - A History profile of the Wall St Crash of
1929." http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/topstory/1929.htm (3/24/99) Watson,
Jr., George G., Economics. Sacramento, McDougal, Littell and Company 1986
Word Count: 1612
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