Time names Intel chair Man of Year

Web posted December 21, 1997

By Larry McShane
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The name is unknown, but his products are ubiquitous.

Intel Chairman Andrew Grove, whose innovative use of microchip technology helped change the computer industry, was named Saturday as Time magazine's ``Man of the Year.''

Grove, a Holocaust survivor who arrived in America a penniless refugee in 1956, earned the 71st annual honor for his work as chairman and CEO of Intel Corp. His company produces nearly 90 percent of the planet's personal computer microprocessors.

Grove, 61, joins an elite group of honorees stretching from the first winner, Charles Lindbergh in 1927, to last year's winner, AIDS researcher Dr. David Ho. Other winners in the 1990s included Ted Turner, President Clinton, Pope John Paul II and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

``I am deeply honored to be chosen as Time's `Man of the Year' -- doubly honored because the context is information technology,'' Grove said. ``I feel fortunate to have spent my entire professional life in this field and I share Time's enthusiasm for its potential.''

Why Grove?

``Like his fellow wealth-builders of the digital age, his mission is his product,'' writes Time Managing Editor Walter Isaacson. ``The microchip has become -- like the steam engine, electricity and the assembly line -- an advance that propels a new economy.''

Grove joined Intel upon its creation in 1968, taking over as president in 1979 and CEO eight years later. Today, the Santa Clara, Calif., company is worth $115 billion.

Grove is sanguine about his role in the technology explosion. ``Technology happens,'' he told Time. ``It's not good, it's not bad. Is steel good or bad?''

The magazine's cover photo of Grove is actually two photographs. Using computer imaging, a portrait photo of Grove was superimposed on a picture of a wafer of Intel chips.

Time considered several other candidates before settling on Grove: The late Princess Diana, cloning scientist Ian Wilmut, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and philanthropist Charles Feeney also are featured in the year-end double issue.

It's not the first time that Time has turned to technology in selecting its annual honoree. In 1982, the computer was selected as the first-ever ``Machine of the Year.''

The magazine is due on newsstands Monday.