Walter Jeremiah Sanders III ("Jerry Sanders") was a salesman at Fairchild Semiconductor in the 1960s. He was one of the company's best sales people and was famous for style and flair. He then co-founded Advanced Micro Devices and took his trademark style into his position as its CEO. Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the first commercially available integrated circuit (although at almost the same time as one from Texas Instruments), and would go on to become one of the major players in the evolution of Silicon Valley in the 1960s. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... For other possible meanings of AMD see AMD (disambiguation) Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ...

Jerry was kind of Hollywood, even though he grew up in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, raised by his paternal grandparents. He was once attacked and beaten by a street gang that left him so covered with blood that a priest was called in to administer the last rites, but Jerry recovered. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on an academic scholarship from the Pullman railroad car company. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in engineering in 1958, and then went to work for the Douglas Aircraft Company. He eventually moved to Motorola, then to Fairchild Semiconductor. ... Jump to: navigation, search Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ... The Anointing of the Sick is one of the sacraments of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy, and is also practiced in some Protestant churches. ... University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is a large public university, the largest campus in the University of Illinois system. ... The Pullman Palace Car Company, owned by George Pullman, manufactured railroad train cars in the mid to late 1800s through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. ... A bachelors degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts three or four years. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. ... Motorola NYSE: MOT (TYO: 6686) is a global communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ... Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the first commercially available integrated circuit (although at almost the same time as one from Texas Instruments), and would go on to become one of the major players in the evolution of Silicon Valley in the 1960s. ...

In the late 1960s Sherman Fairchild brought a new management team into Fairchild Semiconductor, led by Lester C Hogan, then president of Motorola Semiconductor. The troops from Motorola (Hogan's Heroes) were notoriously conservative, and immediately clashed with Sander's boisterous style. He wasn't happy and neither were they. In 1969 a group of Fairchild engineers decided to start a new company, which became Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). They asked Jerry to join them, and he said he would, provided he became the president of the company. Although it caused some dissension within the group, they agreed, and AMD was founded with Sanders as President. Motorola NYSE: MOT (TYO: 6686) is a global communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ... Derka semiconductor is a material with an electrical conductance that is intermediate between that of an insulator and a conductor. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... For other possible meanings of AMD see AMD (disambiguation) Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ... Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ...

Sanders remained the company's consummate salesperson, always available to come in on the really tough negotiations and close them. He loved visiting the Los Angeles sales office on Wilshire Blvd near Hollywood and staying at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Sanders always wanted to make money — lots of money — but he realized that the key to earning wealth was for everyone else at AMD to make a lot of money too. While growing wealthy, he also lavished wealth generously on all his employees. At the end of the company's first $1 million quarter, Sanders stood by the door of the company and handed a $100 bill to every employee as they left. Every employee at the company got stock options, a huge innovation at the time. The City of Los Angeles (from Spanish Los Ángeles , meaning the angels), also known as L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States in terms of population, as well as one of the worlds most important economic, cultural, and entertainment centers. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ... Categories: Companies traded on NYSE | Corporation stubs | Fortune 500 companies | Hotels | Companies based in California ...

Sanders gave the company a strong sales and marketing orientation, so that it was successful even though it was often a little behind its competitors in technology and manufacturing. He shared the success of the company with the employees, usually coincident with sales-oriented growth targets. One time, as a successful sales goal was met, the company held a drawing among all the employees, and an immigrant production worker in Sunnyvale, California won $1000 a month for 20 years (a new house). Location Location of Sunnyvale within Santa Clara County, California. ...

He drove the company through hard times as well. In 1974, a particularly bad recession almost broke the company, but a brilliant sales deal worked out by Sanders with one of the company's distributors saved the company. Through many difficult recessions he refused to lay off employees, a reaction to the rampant layoffs that had occurred at Fairchild earlier. Instead of cutting employees, he asked them to work Saturdays to get more done and get new products out sooner. Jump to: navigation, search 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

Around 1980, he was responsible for a licensing deal with Intel that made AMD a second source to IBM for the Intel Microprocessor series, a deal that eventually made the company the only real competitor to Intel. Jump to: navigation, search 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) NYSE: IBM (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, NY, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) (founded 1968) is a U.S.-based multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Jump to: navigation, search Microprocessors, including an Intel 80486DX2 and an Intel 80386 A microprocessor (abbreviated as µP or uP) is a computer electronic component made from miniaturized transistors on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) (aka microchip or just chip). ...

Sanders created Advanced Micro Devices; his personality was the company's personality — colorful, brash, perhaps a little too "Hollywood" for some. He is one of the architects of Silicon Valley.

External links

• Interview with Jerry Sanders at his alma mater
• Jerry Sanders Special