Bell Labs' Critical BELLMAC-32 Microprocessor Legacy

Join us for Bell Labs' Critical BELLMAC-32 Microprocessor Legacy, an event on Tue, Nov. 11, 2025 at 7pm at SEMI, 567 Yosemite Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035. (Also available via Zoom - see https://californiaconsultants.org/event/bell-labs-critical-bellmac-32-microprocessor-legacy/)

We'll have free quality pizza and drinks starting at 6:30pm. Come early and network with our members, other engineers, interested parties, and possible consulting clients. A Zoom option for this hybrid event is at www.CaliforniaConsultants.org

This presentation will discuss the pioneering microprocessor R&D efforts at Bell Labs in 1976-1982 which created a new chip architecture and physical design. New test and verification methods were needed to overcome challenges in CMOS fabrication, and many of this project’s inventions were forerunners of subsequent VLSI developments:

• high-speed domino circuits to reduce complex logic gate delay times,
• a twin-tub CMOS process for improved power efficiency and performance,
• interconnect-centric logic design for signal delay reduction,
• gate-matrix layout which increased density,
• 32-bit wide internal and external transfers, and
• instructions which implemented certain UNIX operating system and C programming language operations

As explained by Michael Condry in an story, this device was designed with the intention of carrying both voice and computation into the future, and CMOS was seen as a promising—but risky—alternative to the NMOS and PMOS designs then in use.

During this talk, three of the project leaders will describe how their team overcame numerous obstacles, and how they exceeded their speed goal with a 6.4 MHz device in 2.5 micrometer CMOS technology. These efforts created the BELLMAC-32 series of microprocessors, whose applications included telephony products. Their work was recognized this year with an IEEE Milestone.

Michael Condry's consulting work focuses on Artificial Intelligence and its infrastructure. He retired from Intel as CTO for its Client Division, and his career spans both academic and industry positions, but mostly in industry. Michael has had senior leadership roles at Sun Microsystems, and also at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he was an Architect of the BELLMAC-32 microprocessor. He held teaching and research positions at Princeton Univ. and the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where he was part of Al Gore’s Internet Committee.

Michael holds multiple patents, and is an IEEE Life Fellow and an IEEE Industrial Electronics Society member. He is Past President of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, VP of Industry and Standards for the Consumer Technologies Society, and a Computer Society member. Michael conceived and chaired the IEEE World Technology Summit to grow industry engagement in IEEE.

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Sung-Mo Kang is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. He is a Chancellor Emeritus of UC Merced; President Emeritus of Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST); a Fellow of IEEE, ACM, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Asia-Pacific Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI); a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA) and the National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI); a Life Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST); and a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering in Korea (NAEK).

Kang's work on the BELLMAC-32 included as a Supervisor of High-End Microprocessor Design. He then joined the ECE department at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

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Victor Huang is an independent executive consultant at Onlye Solutions where he specializes in wireless telecommunications, and mobile consumer electronics (PDAs, mobile smart phones, web tablets, and e-Readers). As a senior level executive seasoned in high technology industrial management, he has been VP of Engineering in 5 Silicon Valley startups, and was Deputy Director of the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Singapore, and Technical Manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

At Bell Labs, Victor specialized in microprocessor development, including the BELLMAC-32. He holds four international patents, and is an IEEE Life Fellow, a Life Administrative Committee (AdCom) member of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES), Vice Chair and Past Chair of IES Standards Technical Committee, and IES representative to the IEEE Standards Board. He is a recipient of the IEEE IES Anthony J. Hornfeck Service Award for outstanding, meritorious services to the Industrial Electronics Society, and a recipient of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Medallion for exceptional contributions to standards development.

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