Chapter 436 The Silicon Valley Old Boy and the Backup "Silver Fox"

The first giant that Li Xiaofan accompanied Academician Ni to visit was AMD founder Sanders. Li Xiaofan privately nicknamed him "Silicon Valley Old Naughty Boy".

Sanders is now in a moment of success. As a "second supplier" that started out as a "copycat" of Intel, AMD miraculously won the lawsuit four years ago and officially obtained the qualification to produce 386 processors.

Before, the two companies had an agreement that "AMD has the right to copy the microcode contained in Intel microcomputers and peripheral products sold by Intel..."

AMD's lawyers seized the definition loophole of the word "microcomputer" in this sentence. AMD believed that it meant "microprocessor", so that it could continue to be Intel's spare tire and continue to "copy".

Intel believed that it meant "microcomputer", so that it could prevent AMD from being a spare tire.

But in this lawsuit, AMD miraculously won!

This made Sanders and AMD, who were ready to pack up and return to their hometown Chicago, overjoyed!

This is certainly due to the problem of protocol loopholes, but the more important reason is that Americans do not want Intel to dominate the entire CPU industry.

As a blue giant that purchases a huge number of CPUs, IBM Computer Company also hopes that AMD, the "second supplier", can continue to exist.

The concept and model of "second supplier" originated from the US military, McNamara, the Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy period. McNamara had previously worked at Ford Motor Company. After taking office as Secretary of Defense, he believed that it was too wasteful for the US military to purchase parts from one supplier, so he changed the procurement system and stipulated that each part should be purchased from at least two suppliers. Through competition between the two companies, it can not only reduce the procurement price, but also improve production efficiency and ensure supply.

Since then, the "second supplier system" has been widely promoted in the US electronics industry and has been used to this day.

The most obvious example is that Apple must have at least two suppliers, whether for assembly or parts. Although only Samsung Electronics can produce the top-level small-size OLED screen used in the iPhone, Apple still managed to cultivate LG Display and BOE as the second supplier...

"Hi, Academician Ni, Li, welcome to our great AMD!"

Because of the introduction of his old boss Don Valentine when he was at Fairchild Semiconductor, Sanders was very enthusiastic when he met Academician Ni and Li Xiaofan.

Although Sanders, 60 years old this year, has a head full of silver hair, he looks energetic in a well-fitting brand-name suit with a brightly colored tie, like an old Hollywood star.

Sanders had many nicknames in those days, such as "Silicon Valley Clown Prince" and another nickname called "Silver Fox", which means the shrewdness and cunningness of Sanders with a head full of silver hair.

In the eyes of many colleagues at Fairchild Semiconductor, Sanders' image: flashy life, exaggerated words and deeds, and self-praising. Everyone likes to call Sanders the "Clown Prince of Silicon Valley". Every Fairchild student can tell a joke about Sanders. The most famous one is that during working hours, he actually wore exaggerated pink pants to IBM headquarters to promote products. The blue giant IBM not only let him enter the building, but also signed a sales contract with him for a considerable amount of money.

Sanders is so hated and loved. Li Xiaofan said that if he were put in Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Sanders would be the old naughty boy Zhou Botong, with great magical powers and a childlike heart...

When greeting in the AMD conference room, Li Xiaofan wanted to laugh when he saw the not-so-straight nose of Sanders sitting opposite him.

Sanders' ideal when he was young was very direct: to be a Hollywood star, make a lot of money, and find a beautiful girl!

So Sanders' current dress and temperament are very similar to Hollywood stars. He once had a Hollywood star dream in his heart!

But his dream of becoming a Hollywood star suffered a blow when he was in college. It was at a party after a football game. One of Sanders' good friends flirted with a girl, but she turned out to be the girlfriend of the local gang leader. The faction leader was jealous and the consequences were serious, so the good friend was beaten up.

The young and energetic Sanders was very loyal and rushed forward to pull the good friend away. As a result, the good friend left Sanders and ran away, leaving Sanders alone as a punching bag. His head was broken, his nose, chin and ribs were broken, and his face was scratched by the gangsters with a can opener.

When he was sent to the hospital, due to excessive bleeding, the doctors thought Sanders would die without a doubt, and called a priest to pray for him.

But just like the lawsuit with Intel, Sanders miraculously survived. But his nose was broken, and the doctor took a piece of bone from his forehead to fill it, but the nose was still a little crooked.

This nose problem seemed to directly affect Sanders' dream of becoming a Hollywood star.

Li Xiaofan smiled secretly when he looked at Sanders: Fortunately, Sanders was beaten up and did not go to Hollywood to become a star. Otherwise, it would be a pity to lose the only CPU manufacturer that can rival Intel in the world. How lonely the semiconductor world would be without Sanders!

When Sanders heard that Li Xiaofan was from Singapore, he said loudly:

"Oh, Singapore, I'm very familiar with it, I like this city very much! 1D established a branch in Singapore 13 years ago, and now your Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor CSM does part of the wafer foundry for me..."

Singapore Chartered Semiconductor CSM is an IC manufacturer jointly established by Singapore Technology ST Company, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, in 1987, with Sierra Semiconductor and National Semiconductor NS in the United States. It is controlled by Singapore Technology ST Company. It is a state-owned semiconductor company controlled by the Singapore government.

Chartered Semiconductor CSM of Singapore used the three-layer complementary metal oxide semiconductor CMOS process technology provided by the two American semiconductor companies in the joint venture in the early days to produce ASIC chips and perform wafer foundry business for other companies like AMD.

Sanders' introduction made Li Xiaofan feel that he had a soft spot for Asia, especially Southeast Asia.

In 1972, the year Li Xiaofan was born, AMD successfully went public.

Then in the second year, 1D Company's first production base was completed in Penang, Malaysia.

An assembly and production base of 1D Company is located in Manila, Philippines.

1D Company established a branch in Singapore.

1D Company's Bangkok production base in Thailand is being constructed and the Austin plant is being expanded.

…

Judging from the above-mentioned series of actions, Sanders seems to have deliberately built his semiconductor factory in Asia outside the United States to avoid Intel's edge!

"Mr. Sanders, why don't you go to China to build a factory now?" Li Xiaofan asked.

In the previous life, it was not until the end of 2003 that AMD announced at Diaoyutai in Beijing that it would establish AMD (China) Co., Ltd. and officially enter the mainland Chinese market on a large scale.

Then the next year, the AMD Suzhou factory settled in the Suzhou Singapore Industrial Park and initially engaged in a single microprocessor testing business.

In his previous life, the foreign-funded company that Li Xiaofan worked for was one of the suppliers of this project...