Reborn Capital Madman

After confirming that Intel 8080 was the architecture he wanted, Gao Xian went to Intel's new CEO Gordon Moore and asked for the necessary support.

Although he obeyed Arthur Locke's advice, Gordon Moore dared not deny Gao Xian's face.

What's more, no matter how Intel regards semiconductor memory as its lifeblood, it will not be so stupid that it completely ignores the company's new achievement in microprocessors - Intel 8080.

So Gordon Moore called together relevant personnel from various departments, including production, manufacturing, and marketing, to discuss it.

There is no doubt that Intel 8080 will be given a decent product launch. The disagreement arises over Intel's 8080 sales strategy.

To put it bluntly, how should Intel sell Intel 8080?

This confused situation is not a joke, but a serious problem.

Although Intel's semiconductor memory is also an unprecedented new product, its sales strategy can be based on the magnetic core memory it intends to replace, as long as it can be more cost-effective than the other party.

The previous Intel 4004 actually belonged to the category of customized chips, and its whereabouts had been taken care of by the client.

What is the target group of Intel 8080, which can be said to be a new look? Will it continue to produce calculators like Intel 4004? But the current calculator market has been personally eliminated by Texas Instruments, and it has been conquered by price wars. It is difficult to see other manufacturers.

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In short, the pioneering work from zero to one is not as simple as imagined by latecomers who have crossed this stage.

Gao Xian, who knew what was going on, just watched with a cold eye. He believed that in the face of Gordon Moore's questions, Intel's department elites would definitely be able to come up with a feasible solution.

Sure enough, the final conclusion is that, referring to a low-end minicomputer sold by Data Equipment Company for $8,000, the Intel 8080 is priced at $360 each.

When this well-organized and well-founded price gradually formed a consensus among everyone, the director of Intel's marketing and sales department breathed a sigh of relief, seeming to think of the "System/360" in IBM's popular mainframe computer.

360", which means good luck, I can't help but proudly boast that this price is perfect!

Gao Xian snorted softly, do you think Intel 8080 is the kind of CPU that will integrate a memory controller, PCI channel, USB controller, and even a graphics core that can save a graphics card in a few decades?

?It’s actually priced at three hundred and sixty dollars a piece!

You must know that the first generation of personal computers that are about to be launched will have such low performance that it is impossible to escape the evaluation of being ridiculed as a toy by mainframes and minicomputers, and the price will never exceed 800 US dollars. Otherwise, it will not attract people to try it.

If the first generation of personal computers used Intel 8080 as the CPU, it would also need other peripheral chips that Intel configured for Intel 8080.

These costs add up to more than the already high US$360, and there is no room for PC manufacturers to operate.

Seeing Gao Xian's disapproval, Gordon Moore quickly asked: "Gao, what do you think?"

Gao Xian had no choice but to waste his words and point out: "Intel 8080 is an unprecedented product, and the sales strategy is really troublesome."

"But one thing, everyone must understand that compared to mainframes and minicomputers, the microprocessor represented by Intel 8080 is a people-friendly solution."

"Therefore, I suggest that the price of three hundred and sixty US dollars can be used as the retail price of Intel 8080, in addition to adding a wholesale price."

"For example, if you are facing a manufacturer that purchases thousands of Intel 8080s, you can stabilize the other party's demand at a preferential price of US$75 per unit."

After Gordon Moore thought for a moment, he understood the mystery of this pricing mechanism, so he immediately made the decision: "Following Gao's additional advice, let's start launching the Intel 8080 product."

Gao Xian did not follow up on Intel's next move because he wanted to find the best coolie to write the assembly language compiler and BIOS function table for Intel 8080.

In fact, among the nearly 100 people employed by the company in Los Angeles, about one-third are technical engineers, who are more than enough to handle calculators, arcades, computers and other related work.

However, writing the assembly language compiler and BIOS function table for Intel 8080, two pioneering tasks from scratch, not only require corresponding professional skills, but also require keen talent and persistence in doing things.

Thanks to the fact that Gao Xian already had a goal in mind and that his assistant Zhou Wenyao was getting more and more effective, the best coolie - Gary Kildare - was brought to Gao Xian before he left Northern California.

In fact, to a large extent, Gary Kildare brought it to his doorstep.

Currently, Gary Kildare teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

In this era, despite the dollar crisis in the United States, the funding of American scientific research institutions is very sufficient, and they can withstand the "waste" of resources caused by some researchers who are "not doing their jobs properly" and can freely use their resources to "feed" them in large quantities.

The basic technologies required for personal computers, the Internet, etc. have been developed.

Gary Kildare's teaching job at the Naval Postgraduate School was very easy. During this period, he even went out to study for a doctorate and then came back to continue his studies.

Therefore, Gary Kildare was free to pay attention to the latest technological advances, such as the microprocessor that would unmistakably be judged to be epoch-making in the future.

The distance from Monterey to Silicon Valley is just over an hour's drive, so Gary Kildare learned about Intel 4004 on a first-come-first-served basis, and developed a strong interest in research, and then actively participated in the project sponsored by Gao Xian.

A series of technical salons.

After Zhou Wenyao brought Gary Kildare over, Gao Xian was convinced that this person was the technical genius who developed CP/M, the most important operating system in the early stages of personal computer development, in the "old script".

Gao Xian got straight to the point: "I have an assembly language design plan targeting the Intel 8080 architecture, and I'm looking for a compiler implementer. In addition, after the compiler is successfully launched, I still need to build on this foundation."

above, abstracting out a high-level function table that makes it easier to call the underlying functions of Intel 8080."

Gary Kildare nodded and said: "I bought an Intel 4004 myself and conducted various experiments. I feel that microprocessors will definitely become the core component of computers in the future; now there are people who are exposed to Intel 8080

Opportunities, of course, are something you can’t ask for.”

Gao Xian said happily: "Okay, I will give you three months and 30,000 US dollars to complete these two tasks."

Seeing such a generous reward, Gary Kildare was overjoyed and nodded in agreement.

Gao Xian made a gesture to Zhou Wenyao, and Gary Kildare was led to sign the contract; and then cooperate with Intel.

Intel is eager to develop an assembly language compiler for Intel 8080; but it has no interest in the BIOS function table.

Fortunately, the condition of assembly language compiler alone is enough. In exchange, Gao Xian obtained the patent authorization of Intel 8080 architecture and the qualification of second source of supply.

In today's era, whenever government procurement is involved, the second source of supply mechanism is indispensable.

For example, if Intel 8080 is only produced in Intel factories, it will not be able to receive large orders from the government. Intel must authorize the production of Intel 8080 to other manufacturers so that the government can have more than one source to choose from for the same product.

Therefore, Intel, which currently does not realize that the x86 architecture may be very powerful in the future, has a very open attitude towards the operation of Intel 8080, not to mention that Gao Xian is personally promoting it.

In fact, Intel feels that it picked up an Intel 8080 assembly language compiler for nothing and took advantage.

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