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Nick Farrell the Inquirer, Monday 26 May 2008. 12:55:00
Simplot has had his chips
THE MAN behind Micron, potato billionaire Billionaire J.R. Simplot has died. He was 99. Simplot, who was big man in spuds, made it to number 80 on Forbes magazine's 2006 list of richest Americans, with an estimated wealth of $3.2 billion. In 1971, Simplot decided to put some of the money he had made flogging potatos in a little outfit called Micron, which wanted to make computer chips. He spent more than 20 million on a manufacturing plant and helped it to become a major producer of DRAM memory chips. He did not make as much money out of Micron as he did out of being the man who flogged chips to MacDonalds....



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