Welcome to my last column of the year. Earlier, I thought about recapping the year in IC packaging. Then I decided to end 2001 on a positive note, so forget about recaps! Whatever I was going to say about the year in packaging will have wait for January. As I peer somewhat bug-eyed at my computer monitor in early October, neither I nor most of the world is willing or able to predict how the industry will fare in 2002.
Now, whenever I'm in a bind for something to write about, as I may be at this present moment, I delve into the industry archives for inspiration. Eureka, I found it! As you know, microprocessor king Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., and competitor Advanced Micro Devices, a few miles down the road in nearby Sunnyvale, get along about as well as foxes and chickens. But it wasn't always that way, as I'll report shortly. On this page, you'll see photos from my archives of a sculpture known as "Chip Fragment." This 15-foot classic graces a park-like setting immediately adjacent to AMD's Submicron Development Center on DeGuigne Avenue. When the Center was completed in 1990, a city ordinance insisted that all newly built commercial buildings of "a certain size" offer "some form of art" placed outside, according to my sources at AMD. Not only must the art be placed outside, the ordinance says, "It must be clearly visible to passing motorists to enhance the visual and aesthetic qualities of commercial developments . . ."
The bronze, stainless steel and concrete work by San Francisco artist Lorraine Vail is a maze of circuitry inhabited by an odd assortment of bronze animals and people. Among its highlights is an elephant sitting at a computer terminal. This represents computer memory (because, of course, elephants never forget). The personae found on the sculpture includes the late Dr. Robert Noyce, a founder of Intel and, depending whether or not you're on the Nobel Prize committee, one of the founders of the IC. What's the co-founder of Intel and its former chairman doing at AMD, you ask? It turns out that Dr. Noyce was an early investor in Jerry Sanders' company. Another recognizable face belongs to Sanders, AMD chairman and CEO. You may call this folk art, but a lot of people called it something else when it was first unveiled. Today, it warrants hardly a yawn from passers-by. Odds & Ends Our great IC packaging industry quiz is over. In case you missed it, the questions and answers appeared in the last two issues. This year, there were not any winners. In fact, since I didn't receive even one entry, I'm keeping the Chip Scale Review shirt myself! See you next year.
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