Today for smart, young adults just out of school Google (GOOG) is a great place to work much like HP (HPQ) was 35 years ago when I was hired. Back then, I went to HP to design semiconductors for the Optoelectronic group (OED). HP used its own chips in many of its own products. The group I went to invented the LED for their first calculators released when I was in high school and the 1977 HP01 watch, released when I was at UC Berkeley studying electrical engineering and computer science.
These advance products were part of what inspired me to study semiconductor engineering.
(I get a kick out of how Apple(AAPL), Google and Samsung are still talking about getting regular folks to dress like geeks with wearable computing technology invented by HP and released as a product in 1977!)
OED grew and spun off OCD (Optical Communication Division) where I designed fiber optic transceivers and later infrared (IrDA) transceivers when Bluetooth and WiFi were still too expensive so the industry used light to communicate wirelessly between devices.
Later chips went into HP computers and later PCs. Eventually, it was not cost effective so we sold the unit (mostly R&D) to Intel. One of my friends and neighbors still works at Intel designing advanced processes. I speculated that this was "cyclical" and eventually some companies would want more control of the chips and not rely on Intel or TSMC and bring both design and manufacturing back in house.
OED grew and spun off OCD (Optical Communication Division) where I designed fiber optic transceivers and later infrared (IrDA) transceivers when Bluetooth and WiFi were still too expensive so the industry used light to communicate wirelessly between devices.
From Wall Street Breakfast at Seeking Alpha:
Intel threatened as Google mulls creating own server chips. Google ( GOOG) is reportedly thinking about designing its own server processors using technology from ARM Holdings ( ARMH). The idea is that with its own chips, Google could better manage the interaction between hardware and software. The move could hurt Intel ( INTC), which earns over 4% of its revenue from the search giant, and which has a 95% share of the market for server chips that use PC processors.
It is interesting that Google is now so big that they are contemplating doing their own chips. Will they also build their own fabs or have UMC, TSMC, Samsung or even Intel build the chips for them?
This table shows my newsletter "Core and Explore Portfolios" from 1998 through the end of Q3
This table shows my newsletter "Core and Explore Portfolios" from 1998 through the end of Q3
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