Anonymous reader cites NPR reporting. owl. A bullet that looks like a shark. Hindu god Ganesh. Yin and Yang signs. All are carefully selected and etched into microchips approximately 1 inch square. Each tiny silicone doodle is the handiwork of engineers at Qualcomm, a San Diego-based company that develops products and services related to wireless technology. The engineer inserted the drawing into her Qualcomm Q1650 data decoder, being careful not to interfere with the chip's functionality. They are purposeless etchings and were never meant to be exposed.
These graffiti, known as silicon art, chip graffiti, or chip art, and other similar forms, are remnants of technology history from the early days of Silicon Valley to the early 2000s. A human touch. Engineers add sketches to microchip designs, technically similar to signing artwork. They imprint them onto chips that could end up in your phone, laptop, or calculator. They spent hours crafting them, even though they were frowned upon by executives.
These doodles were first discovered decades ago, but social media has brought them to light. And now there's a small but determined group of online enthusiasts working to keep that history alive. They are still cataloging tiny drawings. Many of them are smaller than the width of a human hair and cannot be seen without a microscope. These believers post glossy videos of themselves shucking like oysters to reveal their iridescent insides and all that little bits that might be hidden there. Look at the sketch. And they are keen to rescue them from the scrap heap.
