Artifact Details

Title

Intel 386 Microprocessor oral history panel : design and development

Catalog Number

102702019

Type

Document

Description

The internal battles over which of several Intel microprocessor architectures under consideration would make it to the market were finally resolved with the launch and eventual market success of the 386. However, the three years leading up to the launch of the 386 were filled with lengthy and often contentious, discussions among the design team members and their internal competitors, the marketing team, and Intel senior executives.

Several members of the design team -- John Crawford, Gene Hill, Jill Leukhardt, Jan Prak, Jim Slager -- provide their first person account of those events. They started out with the charter to build a "gap-filler" microprocessor compatible with the x86 architecture-based products already in customers' hands, one that would hold off competitors until one of the proposed alternative architecture-based products would be ready for market. They ended up designing and developing one of the largest selling semiconductor products ever, and, some would argue, enabling Intel to establish its market leadership position in semiconductors, specifically in microprocessors. The team discusses the technical and market / customer challenges it faced and how they overcame them in this videotaped oral history.

Date

2008-12-02

Contributor

Crawford, John, Panelist
Hill, Gene, Panelist
Jarrett, James, Moderator
Leukhardt, Jill, Panelist
Prak, Jan Willem, Panelist
Remacle, Rosemary, Editor
Slager, Jim, Panelist

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Mountain View, CA, USA

Extent

32 p.

Category

Transcription

Subject

Crawford, John; Hill, Gene; Leukhardt, Jill; Prak, Jan Willem; Slager, Jim; Apple; Compaq; IBM; Intel; Motorola; Zilog, Inc.; Alexy, George; Childs, Bob; Gelsinger, Pat; Grove, Andy; House, Dave; Moore, Gordon; Meyers, Glen; Vadasz, Les; Vannier, Dave; 8086, 286 microprocessor; 386 design; 386 architecture; 68000 microprocessor; CAD; CMOS; IBM PC; Intel culture; semiconductor fabs; Microprocessors; on chip cache; P4, P7 microprocessors; RISC, CISC architectures; ROM; software compatibility; source code; x86 architecture; Z80 microprocessor; semiconductor history

Collection Title

Oral history collection

Lot Number

X5063.2009