Jerry Sanders

Who is Jerry Sanders?

Walter Jeremiah Sanders III is a co-founder and was a long-time CEO of the American semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices.

Jerry Sanders III grew up in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, raised by his paternal grandparents. He was once attacked and beaten by a street gang leaving him so covered in blood that a priest was called to administer the last rites. 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.

After graduation he went to work for the Douglas Aircraft Company. He eventually moved to Motorola, then to Fairchild Semiconductor.

In 1968 Sherman Fairchild brought a new management team into Fairchild Semiconductor, led by C. Lester Hogan, then vice president of Motorola Semiconductor. The staff from Motorola, also known as "Hogan's Heroes", were conservative and hence immediately clashed with Sanders' boisterous style.

In 1969 a group of Fairchild engineers decided to start a new company, which became Advanced Micro Devices. They asked Jerry Sanders 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 the company was founded with Sanders as President.