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Brains inside Intel makes brains - and employs a lot of them too. The firm, incorporated in 1968, now has more than 70,000 employees worldwide. The firm's fame and fortune is built around semiconductors, which make the millions of calculations required to run computers - the brains of computers. Intel processors run nearly 90 percent of all computers, domestically and internationally, and a larger proportion of its revenue comes from abroad than from home. Furthermore, over 80 percent of the firm's revenue is from sales of microprocessors, and no other firm can match Intel's R&D; the company spends billions of dollars a year developing products. Faster and faster Moore's Law, proposed by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, posits that new generations of chips appear with approximately twice as much capacity as their predecessor every 18 to 24 months. These new chips, like the 486, the Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III are inevitably more profitable for Intel. (The powerful Xeon versions of its Pentium chips are geared toward business servers.) The development of faster chips continues at a breath-taking pace: Intel unveiled the industry's fastest microprocessor, a 1.5 GHz rocket, merely one year after it debuted its 550 MHz-Pentium III chip. New trouble brewing Nothing, however, lasts forever. Fierce competition has cut into Intel's profits, forcing the company to slash its prices in order to compete with the cheaper microchips that are powering the under-$1,000 computers that are flooding the market, especially those made by rivals AMD and Cyrix. To compound Intel's business problems, the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust suit against Intel in 1998, charging the company with using its near-monopoly to stifle competition by withholding technical information from its rivals. However, unlike its competitor, Microsoft, which will likely be split, Intel reached a settlement with the FTC. Edging away from its core Around the time when Craig Barrett inherited the CEO throne from Andy Grove in 1998, Intel began moving away from its core PC processor business and expanding its role in networking and communications. With $11 billion in cash to play with, Barrett has the means. In the past few years, Intel has been investing in Internet startups like online retailer eToys, search engine developer Inktomi, and women's web community iVillage. In 1999 Intel purchased Internet equipment maker Shiva Corportion, and network and communications companies Level One, Dialogic, and Softcom Microsystems. In February 2000, Intel bought Ambient Technologies for $150 million in order to get technologies for high-speed Internet access. That same month, Intel also acquired Thinkit Technologies, which designs chips used in switches and routers. Intel kept busy in May by forming a new 'interactive media services company' with Excalibur Technologies. The new company will offer technologies to produce and deliver audio and video content over the Internet. The deal is split 60/40, with Intel controlling the larger equity stake in the company. Intel has matched its new-found focus on the Internet and telecommunications with expansion projects in New Mexico and Oregon. Both begun in mid-2000, these two projects will provide increased plant capacities in response to the large demand for Intel's chips. Additionally, the expansion will create job opportunities. Looking into the crystal ball Forecasts of Intel's immediate financial future vary wildly. At the same time that one so-called expert is prophesizing doom for the company, someone else projects unbridled growth and prosperity. One reason for the discrepancy is the existence of a number of conflicting indicators. The glass-is-half-empty contingent points to Intel's small but steady loss in market share. This is particularly the case for the processors in low-end PCs, for which Intel's margins are also continually shrinking. Gateway recently announced, however, that it would phase out the use of AMD processors in favor of Intel chips. The glass-is-half-full contingent sees both the ever-growing importance of computers in developing markets and the utilization of microprocessers in everyday products like cars and microwaves as positive indicators for the firm. An Intel optimist could also cite the Wall Street consensus that predicts that the company's earnings will rise approximately 25 percent per annum for the next five years.
Intel recruits at more than 50 campuses around the country and attends numerous consortiums, job fairs, and conferences each year. The internship program is also a sort of meta-recruitment endeavor. The company does the bulk of its recruiting for its technical areas-hardware engineering, integrated circuit engineering, etc. Most positions in marketing and finance are offered to MBA grads, but undergraduates with technical majors are also considered. For the interview, you'll be ranked on criteria like technical ability, analytical ability, communication skills, and personal qualities. Especially in areas like finance, "you'll be asked a lot of behavioral questions. My advice is, get your story straight," says a finance analyst. Additionally, "The last question on every interviewer ranking form is 'Would you want to work with this person?'" So remember: smile! Certain other characteristics are also an advantage, says a senior engineer: "As a requirement of Constructive Confrontation - direct acknowledgement of problems and mutual search for a solution - Intel needs people who are direct, who aren't timid or easily cowed. So you may get interviewers pushing on areas in which you are weak. Your answers, even if they're wrong, aren't the important thing; your reaction is. Also, remember that if you tank one 45-minute interview, or think you did, it doesn't mean you won't get an offer. Just put it out of your mind and keep going." Advises one insider, "Don't get stressed out. All the interviewees are placed in little cubicles. There are about 40 other people being interviewed at the same time and the managers just keep going from person to person."
The uptight meritocracy Intel has a very particular culture -- on the one hand emphasizing egalitarianism and meritocracy, on the other hand bestowing upon its insiders featureless cubicles and a healthy dose of paranoia. Insiders say "Intel is a flexible meritocracy. They increase responsibilities of people who show they can do the work and want to do more. Raises and promotions are also based on meritocracy." Don't expect to relax at this firm. "Intel is a little more uptight compared to other big Silicon Valley companies. There is more discipline and more of a business-oriented focus. That is one reason why the company is so successful." And don't expect a lot of hand-holding, either. "There is no executive training programs where you are eased into the culture. I loved it, because you have the freedom to take risks and make things happen, but many people found it a difficult environment." The upshot of all this independence and discipline is that "Intel expects you to speak your mind and express your viewpoint. But once a decision is made, you must back it 100 percent and do what you can to make your project a success. Office politics and project sabotage is not tolerated at Intel." Fortunately, says a former Intel insider, you should be able to get your point across. "Intel culture is something I miss very much. Your success depends on how well you can convince people of your point and your ability to communicate. There is not as much of a problem with stagnant 'old boy networks' as at other firms." Paranoia, paranoia, everybody's coming to get me... Intel's meritocracy and discipline has its downsides -- paranoia and bureaucracy. Intel insiders want to give you a tip: "Word of advice -- meetings suck. They are just an excuse for the managers to justify their stock options. Avoid." One employee in a forward-looking division reports, "Intel is so paranoid that your bag will be searched on the way out." An engineer assesses the firm through its motto output. "Intel has a couple of company slogans. One of them is 'A great place to work,' which is also one of our values, and another is from (former CEO) Andy Grove, 'Only the paranoid survive.' Yes, we are number one, but there is always someone who wants to take us down. So put those two together and maybe you can get an idea of what Intel is like." Cube farm Though Intel is a king in its market, don't expect posh digs at Intel offices. "Everyone sits in a cubicle, except in the labs and the conference rooms. In fact, there are very few doors. That makes it easier to have our 'Open Door' policy." "The offices at Intel are cubicles. No one has an office, not even Andy Grove the chairman. This promotes a very open environment. I like it, but I know that not having an office drives some people crazy," says one manager. Don't even count on keeping a stable cubicle. One employee reports "My office in Folsom is growing so fast that our cubicle size was reduced, from 9 x 9 to 6 x 9. This is called compression. It's a little cramped." Another Intel insider mentions "By walking through the offices, you would have a hard time figuring out where one departments ends and another one starts." One employee tells us "We all sit in rows and columns. I call it the Cube Farm." As for other office attributes, say insiders, "there is a fitness facility on-site, which is handy because I don't have time to go anywhere else." Another Intel employee says "some people like the locations of the offices, but I am in Chandler, Arizona and I can't wait to move. It's a big desert full of scorpions, including my manager." Freebies and functions Intel doesn't shun sociability. "Each quarter the department has a quarterly event off-site. Each summer the division has a company picnic. Each winter the division (and sometimes the site) has a formal ball. When on a cross-functional team, the division sponsors team-building events, like cross country skiing." There is such thing as a free lunch at Intel -- we hear that "some meals are provided when there are meetings during lunchtime, or late." At one insider's office, during their weekly 8 a.m. meeting, continental breakfast is served. One employee loves the free "fitness facility on site." Hardworking Intel employees can earn some time off -- "every seven years, employees earn a sabbatical of eight paid weeks off in addition to regular vacation time." As for health and retirement benefits, "there's the full medical coverage (free), dental plan (free), vision care (free), life insurance (free), the 401(k)." One employee thinks "the greatest, absolute best perk Intel gives me is stock options." The ESOP [employee stock option plan -- open to all Intel employees] "means cash, and sending my kids to college." Stock 'n' bonus paradise Employees are thrilled by their total compensation, but are well aware that salaries alone are "competitive, but on the low end of competitive." One Intel insider lists various bonuses available at Intel. "Individuals can be recognized by other individuals for outstanding work with bonuses up to $100. Each division honors people with bonuses each quarter for outstanding contributions. All employees receive semi-annual profit-sharing bonuses." Intel also offers annual employee bonues based on corporate and division performance. One employee says "because of its powerhouse status, Intel doesn't use base salary to attract top talent. It only pays at industry average. That's been a source of gripes for me and my colleagues. But over time, the complaints taper off as we watch the stock climb." A happy Intel employee reports: "Intel is not the highest paying company out there, as far as salary goes. But the whole package, or 'total compensation,' as they call it, is quite substantial."
Human Resources
Chipsets, Flash memory, embedded controllers; Microprocessors;Motherboards;Networking and communication products;
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