Intel

A bean counter running a technology company is very bad thing to happen. It normally signals that the board has priortized the finance over the technology and markets. Results are very predictable. (https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/13/intel-ousts-ceo-and-names-successor/)

Intel was the proudest of the technlogy company in the valley. It was a startup when I arrived here in 1971. The valley legend has it that when a team of three engineers lead by Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove left Fairchild to start Intel, it took them 15 milutes to raise money. Intel excelled in technology and build the first planar transistor and first integrated circuit. It pioneered in memories and microprocessors. The second team leaving Fairchild was lead by Charlie Sporck, the head of the manufacturing. He promised efficient manufacturing and delivered on it. It took Charlie 15 days to raise money. The third team leaving Fairchild was headed by the Marketing Chief Jerry Sanders. Flashy Jerry took 15 weeks to get funded. AMD was flamboyant in its messaging but weak in technology.

Andy Grove got focused on margins and profits exclusively. He talked about "only paranoids survive" but he did not practice it. It got fat dumb and happy, feasting on its monopoly position in the microprocessor business. It fell behind in everything. Each succesive CEO coasted and enjoyed the monopoly profits.

So here we are. Where does Intel go from here now?