Earlier this year an article floated into my electronic inbox from the Ziff-Davis Network. It heralded yet another computer breakthrough from a major corporation: Sidi Yomtov, an Israeli chip designer working for National Semiconductor, developed a way to combine 43 PC chips onto a single silicon wafer — miniaturization that makes big news in the ever-shrinking world of personal computers. The author described the pressure National Semiconductor experienced and, by extension, the stress Mr. Yomtov felt as the lead designer of the new chip:

"Coordinating a team of 90 engineers in four different time zones, [Yomtov] is at work or on the road so much that his three daughters in Tel Aviv erected a life-size cardboard cut-out of him in the family's living room. 'I put my entire prestige of two decades at National behind this project,' says the bleary-eyed Yomtov. 'I was afraid that if it didn't work, I might not be able to show my face … '

"Yomtov, meanwhile, expects the next version ...