Cofounder, Advanced Micro Devices
Search every verified Jerry Sanders interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2002 interview with Stanford University, Jerry Sanders, cofounder and former CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, discussed his personal background and the founding of AMD. He described being born to a young mother and father who separated when he was young, and recounted an early childhood experience of being dropped off at his grandparents' house only to find they had moved. Sanders stated that he raised $1.55 million to close the funding needed to start AMD. Sanders also offered his views on the semiconductor industry and competition. He described Intel as "a monopoly in servers" that uses that position to "subsidize other activities," and said Intel pays "hundreds of millions of dollars in patent infringement claims because they do whatever the hell they damn want." He emphasized the importance of design and innovation, stating that "the only way you can win is to out-innovate the competition." Sanders noted that Taiwan foundries were producing about 30% of the world's silicon and predicted that only a half dozen companies would own their own fabs, with alliances forming between those with leading-edge process technology and those with access to low-cost capital. He also highlighted AMD's early adoption of employee stock grants and cash profit sharing, summarizing his philosophy as "people first, and products and profits will follow."
“I raised $1.55 million to close on the 1.55 million closing number that we needed and AMD was born.”
“I think Intel's a monopoly in servers and that monopoly in servers gives them the ability to basically from that safe vantage point to subsidize other activities.”
“They pay hundreds of millions of dollars in patent infringement claims because they do whatever the hell they damn want and then they negotiate from a position of power.”
“People first, and products and profits will follow — build a great team, reward those people, let them know what they think is important and they're going to come up with great products.”
“Moore's law is an observation, not a law — it talked about how you double the number of transistors you could put on a chip every 18 months — but at the end of the day whether you make a 100 million transistor chip or a billion transistor chip, what does the chip do, and that's what counts.”
“Taiwan foundries are driving the equipment industry — realistically Taiwan is currently producing about 30% of the silicon in the world, which is amazing for this small island.”
“Only a half dozen companies will probably own their own fabs wholly; you're going to see alliances between companies that can develop leading-edge process technology and companies that have access to low-cost capital.”
“We were the first company to give every employee shares of its stock, the first to go to cash profit sharing — rewards and incentive programs were central to how we built the company.”
“Design is most important today — you have to have the process technology but you have to have the design; it's all about content, and that's the only way you can win is to out-innovate the competition.”
In this gem of an interview by Stanford University, Jerry Sanders, founder of AMD & longest running CEO of the company, talks about his own personal story. How he got into the semiconductor industry, how he started AMD & how he finally managed to beat the industry giant, Intel, at its own game.
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Jerry Sanders.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →