Anand Lal Shimpi (born June 26, 1982) is a former tech journalist and American businessman who retired at the age of 32 from the publishing industry to join the hardware division at Apple Inc. He is primarily known as the founder of the technology website
AnandTech
''AnandTech'' is an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who served as CEO and editor-in-chief until August 30, 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chief ...
, a hardware news/review site which started as
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
reviews hosted on
GeoCities
Yahoo! GeoCities was a web hosting service that allowed users to create and publish websites for free and to browse user-created websites by their theme or interest. GeoCities was started in November 1994 by David Bohnett and John Rezner, and w ...
. At that time Anand was just 14 years old and over a period of 17 years it grew to be one of the most respected sites for tech reviews. He also wrote a book in 2001, named " The Anandtech Guide to PC Gaming Hardware".
Early life
Anand was born to Lalchand Shimpi, an Indian-born computer science professor at
St Augustine's University,
and Razieh Shimpi, an Iranian-born teacher in
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
, NC. When Shimpi was in third grade, his father enrolled him in a computer course. He built his first PC in sixth grade and soon began building PCs for others. He is a graduate of
William G. Enloe GT/IB Center for the Humanities, Sciences, and the Arts and
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
with a degree in
Computer Engineering
Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
with emphasis on microprocessor architecture and design.
Career
He started
AnandTech
''AnandTech'' is an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who served as CEO and editor-in-chief until August 30, 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chief ...
in 1997 at the age of 15.
He called it Anand's Hardware Tech Page. He first started reviewing motherboards; later he would go on to review CPUs, hard drives, RAM, and other computer components. His tech reviews were in-depth and thorough, making it the preferred site for hardware engineers and enthusiasts, receiving praise from spokespersons from
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...
and
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
.
He served as its
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
from 1997 to 2014. AnandTech grew from a small
GeoCities
Yahoo! GeoCities was a web hosting service that allowed users to create and publish websites for free and to browse user-created websites by their theme or interest. GeoCities was started in November 1994 by David Bohnett and John Rezner, and w ...
website in 1997 to a 50 million page view per month publication . AnandTech started as a site that mainly reviewed motherboards and soon added CPUs, video cards, cases, notebooks, Macs, smartphones, tablets and other hardwares.
He reportedly was able to get his hands on an
AMD K6-III
The K6-III (code name: "Sharptooth") was an x86 microprocessor line manufactured by AMD that launched on February 22, 1999. The launch consisted of both 400 and 450 MHz models and was based on the preceding K6-2 architecture. Its improved ...
before any other reviewers.
Anand has been featured in ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', ''
20/20
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'', ''
48 Hours'',
G4 and on
Fortune Magazine
''Fortune'' is an American multinational business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The ...
. He has been one of the celebrity speakers at
Computex
COMPUTEX Taipei, or Taipei International Information Technology Show (), is a computer expo held annually in Taipei, Taiwan. Since the early 2000s, it is one of the largest computer and technology trade shows in the world.
The last COMPUTEX was ...
2003 in Taiwan.
In 2013 he was named as an expert in the
BBC's #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
coverage of the
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
and
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
.
On August 30, 2014, he announced his decision to retire from the technology publishing industry to work at
Apple's hardware technologies division,
and named longtime
AnandTech
''AnandTech'' is an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who served as CEO and editor-in-chief until August 30, 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chief ...
edito
Ryan Smithas his successor.
On February 15, 2020, Bloomberg reported that Anand sent confidential documents to Gerard Williams III after the latter had left Apple to form NUVIA.
Publications
Anand is also the author of the book The ''AnandTech Guide to PC Gaming Hardware'' ()
and has a regular column in ''Computer Power user (CPU) Magazine'' called Anand's Corner.
References
External References
The Road Ahead by Anand Lal Shimpi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimpi, Anand Lal
1982 births
Living people
American technology writers
Writers from Raleigh, North Carolina
American people of Indian descent
Businesspeople from Raleigh, North Carolina
American chief executives
American male journalists
American writers of Indian descent
American writers of Iranian descent
William G. Enloe High School alumni
Apple Inc. people