So many Mikes. Intel and AMD had a feud partially because of the mistaken Mikes.

I was reading a story that brought back memories, I think you’ll like it. The reason it rang true with me was because when Nokia first took over Alcatel-Lucent, I worked with 7 Mikes. Yes, literally 7 guys named Mike and they all went by Mike. Seven Mikes all on the same team that I dealt with almost every day. All great guys but it just got confusing and it forced me to use last names.

However, I was reading the old story about the legal war between Intel and AMD and the mistaken Mikes. In this case, two Mike Webbs. Only this time, they did NOT work for the same company, they worked for competitors and things got complicated.

First, let’s flash back to the 1990s when semiconductor chips were new, exciting, and the way to riches for AMD and Intel. You may not remember, but computers were just starting to become mainstream. Keep in mind that the internet was so new that the choice of connection we dial up, specifically using AOL. I worked for a national paging company, (TSR Wireless), and we use AOL for email. Crazy times, right?

FYI – I got this while reading a book called “The Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli. Simple, easy to read, and fascinating book, I give Rolf a lot of credit for pointing out flaws in my thinking.

So anyway, Intel and AMD are semiconductor companies. They both were in Silicon Valley in the early days of the wealth generations that took place there. In 1987 Intel went to the courts to stop AMD from making the AMD386 processor. In 1991 AMD won the right to make it but in the process, AMD became determined to reverse engineer the chip. Apparently it worked. They wanted to create their own version, reverse engineering was quick and easy. If you don’t think this works, look at Huawei and pretty much 90% of Chinese tech.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s there was a huge battle for 33Mhz processor ownership. Today we scoff at those speeds, but back then it looked like a miracle!

Intel was protecting its IP (Intellectual Property) and AMD was fighting to keep the money stream alive. This is what led to the 1987 court case where Intel sued AMD to get them to stop making the AMD386.

This is where serendipity steps in, coincidences are alive and well and their names are Mike. In this case they had the same first and last names!!! Mike Webb on both counts. Not only that, but one Mike Webb worked for AMD and the other Mike Webb worked for Intel. The AMD Mike was in marketing and the Intel Mike was an engineer.

The tale of two Mikes begins. What are the odds?!?

It gets even more interesting. They both were staying in the same hotel, the Sunnyvale Hilton. (Not too shabby.) For the marketing guy, this was probably normal, but for the engineer, this had to be a great place to stay.

Why does it matter? Stay with me, it gets even more interesting.

Marketing Mike at AMD was expecting a package on the logo design and marketing plans for the AMD386, only the hotel got the Mikes mixed up and sent it to Intel’s engineering Mike. Engineering Mike did what all engineers would do, send it to the legal department and swear to GOD you knew nothing about it, even though it’s addressed to you with your name. OK, I only imagine him telling legal it’s not his and hoping he doesn’t get fired. I made that part up.

OK, this was only marketing stuff, but Intel took it to court to have AMD stop. Unfortunately for Intel, the judge said 386 was pretty generic and AMD could do what they wanted. This is because numbers are hard to trademark.

This led to AMD creating the AMD386 chip and evolved into the AMD486, competing directly with Intel.

Oh,, this changed the way manufacturers label their chips, giving them names instead of numbers. You can trademark a name. It’s hard to trademark a number or letter. Even though Elon Musk made an effort to own X. Even though he had to compete with X-men, X-generation, and so on.

I learned a few things from this. For one, serendipity is real. What are the odds? While coincidences happen, it’s funny how some work out.

Another thing is Intel relied on its patents and naming to protect it and AMD found a way around it. They not only survived but flourished for decades.

Unfortunately, Intel and AMD would go back to court several times, and in 2009 Intel paid AMD $1.25B in a legal dispute.

There is so much competition now. In 2022 I saw Intel is #2 behind Samsung. AMD relies on TSMC to make their chips.

I hope you enjoyed this, just some fun facts.

Links:

https://titoma.com/blog/top-semiconductor-companies#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Samsung%20was%20the,Technology%20dominate%20the%20semiconductor%20industry.

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