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Acquired · March 7, 2022 · 190m

Intel

The rise and fall of Intel: from inventing the microprocessor to losing the mobile revolution. How Andy Grove's 'Only the Paranoid Survive' philosophy built a monopoly — and how Intel's successors abandoned it.

Canon

Grove's 'Only the Paranoid Survive' is the stoic dichotomy applied to corporate strategy: you cannot control when disruption arrives, but you can control your state of readiness. Paranoia is the discipline of maintaining preparation.
Intel was offered the iPhone chip contract and turned it down. The luck (mobile revolution) was available to Intel. The negative return came from a decade of underinvestment in mobile-appropriate chip design.