Grove, Andrew S.

born Sept. 2, 1936, Budapest, Hung.

Hungarian-born U.S. businessman.

He studied at CCNY before earning his Ph.D. from UC-Berkeley in 1963. After working for Fairchild Semiconductor (1963–67), he helped found Intel Corp. in 1968. At Intel he has served as president (1979–97), CEO (1987–97), and chairman of the board (from 1997) and is widely credited with the company's enormous success. He has lectured at Stanford University from 1991. He holds several patents on semiconductor devices and technology and is the author of several books. In 1997 he was named Time magazine's "Man of the Year."

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▪ 1998

      In January 1997 Intel Corp., the world's largest manufacturer of microprocessor chips used to control personal computers (PCs), announced record 1996 earnings of $5.2 billion from total sales that reached nearly $21 billion. For the company, which was founded in 1968, this was a far cry from its first-year revenues of $2,672. Much of Intel's success was credited to its CEO and chairman, Andrew Grove, whose own total 1996 earnings were estimated at more than $97 million. Grove, who had been with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company since it was established, became CEO in early 1987. From that time the average annual return to Intel's investors was a lucrative 44%. Grove's advancement to the top at Intel was an impressive ascent for a young man who had arrived in the U.S. with reportedly only $20 in his pocket and limited English-language skills.

      Grove was born Andras Grof in Budapest on Sept. 2, 1936, the son of a dairyman, and immigrated to the U.S. shortly after the suppression of the Hungarian revolt by the Soviet Union in 1956. He attended the City College of New York while working as a waiter, obtaining his B.S. degree in 1960. In 1963 Grove received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and five years later he joined a new company that became known as Intel (a contraction for integrated electronics). The company introduced the world's first microprocessor in 1971, and the 8088 microchip, which Intel introduced in 1978, was chosen by IBM for use in its first personal computer. By 1997 Intel controlled 85% of the world's PC chip market, and it was estimated that in 1997 alone the company would ship over 80 million Pentium and Pentium Pro microprocessors.

      Although the feisty Grove was one of the most respected managers in the industry, he was reported to occupy a simple work cubicle at Intel, eschewing the office trappings normally bestowed upon one of his business stature. It was a reflection of his open style of management, a style that had proved to be highly successful at Intel. In 1995 Grove underwent treatment for prostate cancer. By 1997, however, Grove's radiation treatments had been successful, and some analysts predicted that Intel was on its way to becoming the world's most profitable company.

SANDRA LANGENECKERT

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