If the digital age has an epicentre, it is here in Santa Clara at Intel. Last week Intel announced record second quarter revenues of dlrs 8.3bn compared with dlrs 6.7bn for the same period last year and hit a new high in its shipments of microprocessors. And the future looks even rosier, it said, as it predicted a significant increase in revenues for the second half. Sir John Browne, chief executive of BP Amoco and a non-executive director of Intel, was here yesterday for a board meeting, but still has business to do with his chairman. Some time later, the two men appear at the door of the tiny, windowless meeting room booked for this interview.
Grove wears a green polo shirt, blue trousers and brown suede shoes.
Browne wears a dark, formal suit. They make an odd but friendly pair. Browne whisks off and Grove settles himself slowly into his chair and stares, as I had been warned he would, with one of those intensely pinning stares that over the years has had executives squirming in their seats. Unlike the big egos and flamboyant personalities of the Valley, Grove is not into all this grandiose stuff that newspapers and magazines and historians enjoy. He is married to Eva, his wife of 42 years and plans to give most of his money to charity.