Three female names: Jeanine, Erlinda, and Jackie were discovered on an Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chip that was made in the middle 1980s and used on numerous Intel processor-based motherboards. We don't know who these girlz are, but they either designed the chip (Charlie's Angelz - but not likely in this time period) or were girlfriends and/or wives of the real chip designers. If they were, in fact, spouses and girlfriends, then these guys definitely have a better method of recognizing their significant others than by using tattoos. After all, a relationship will usually be obsolete by the time the chip ships, so it is a simple matter to add new names to the latest shrink mask. Who will know the difference?

We have received a number of emails regarding female mask and layout designers. Several people have pointed out that women have been involved in mask design and chip layout for a number of years. Cecil Aswell informs us that a typical path for women into this work was digitizing hand-drawn mylar layouts, then graduation to full-blown mask design. In fact, it is probable that Jeanine, Jackie, and Erlinda were mask designers at AMD and placed their own names on this chip.