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. 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.
New trouble brewing Nothing lasts forever, however.
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. 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. 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. That same month, Intel also acquired Thinkit Technologies, which designs chips used in switches and routers.