Freescale begins as a division of Motorola in Phoenix, Arizona in 1949.
M/A-COM is established M/A-COM Technology Solutions (M/A-COM Tech) began in the 1950s as "Microwave Associates", a small supplier of magnetrons to the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Geophysical Services names its electronic division Texas Instruments Texas Instruments' name is born when Geophysical Service Inc. expands into electronics and reorganizes under the name General Instruments Inc. However, since that name was already taken, the Texas-based company took on the name Texas Instruments and put GSI as a subsidiary. Dr. Felix Zandman founds Vishay Vishay Intertechnology is founded by 35yr old Dr. Felix Zandman and begins making foil resisistors and foil resistance strain gauges. Vishay would go on to acquire large brands like Dale, Sfernice, Draloric, Sprague, Vitramon, Siliconix, General Semiconductor, BCcomponents, and Beyschlag. First establishment of Intersil Intersil is established the first time. It would later be restablished. Harris becomes an electronics only business Harris transforms into a pure electronics business. Mostek is started Employees leave Texas Instruments to start Mostek, an integrated circuit manufacturer. Intel goes public Intel introduces the world's first microprocessor and goes public. Zilog is founded by Federico Faggin Zilog is founded by 33yr old ex-Intel employee, Federico Faggin. He was the leader of Intel's microprocessor design group and principally responsible for the design of the first commercial microprocessor. Zilog would be the first company solely dedicated to microprocessors. Harris-Intertype becomes Harris Corporation Harris-Intertype changes its name to Harris Corporation. Mostek is purchased by United Technologies Soon after its market peak, Mostek is purchased by United Technologies Corporation for $345M. Cypress Semiconductors is established A group of coworkers leave AMD to start Cypress Semiconductors with TJ Rodgers. Lattice is founded Lattice is founded on April 3rd and will later be credited for naming Hillsboro, Oregon ?THE SILICON FOREST? in 1985. Maxim Integrated Products is born Maxim Integrated Products was founded in April. Nippon Electric Company renames itself to NEC Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. changes its name to NEC Corporation. Dallas Semiconductor enters the scene Dallas Semiconductor is established by former employees of Mostek. Philips is founded The Philips Company is founded as Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics). Phillips would begin its semiconductor activity in 1953 and would start a process of "disentanglement" in 2005 which would result in a spinoff of NXP. General Electric gets into position Thomson-Houston merges with the Edison General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York to form the General Electric Company. Hitachi is born Hitachi is founded by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira in Ibaraki Prefecture. The company's first product was Japan's first 5-horsepower electric induction motor, initially developed for use in copper mining. Odaira's company soon became the domestic leader in electric motors and electric power industry infrastructure. GE founds RCA The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is founded by GE to further international radio. GE used RCA as its retail arm for radio sales from 1919, when GE began production, until separation in 1930. RCA would quickly grow into an industrial giant of its own, and GE would acquire them 56 years later. Sprague is founded Sprague is founded by Robert Sprague founder of the ?tone control? capacitor. Texas Instruments is born as Geophysical Service, Inc. Geophysical Service Incorporated is formed and would later become known as Texas Instruments. Fairchild Semiconductor is bornAt only 30yrs old Robert Noyce, aka "the Mayor of Silicon Valley" co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor and only a decade later went on to found the Intel Corporation
Raychem Corporation begins work Raychem Corporation is established. As its basis it would have the then-new field of radiation chemistry technology (hence Raychem). National Semiconductors come into being Seven coworkers leave Sperry Rand Corp to start National Semiconductors (NSC). NSC would eventually acquire FSC and restructure them and spin them back out as a separate entity. Intel beginsRobert Noyce, founder of FSC and "Mayer of the Silicon Valley" with Gordon Moore founded Intel under the name NM Electronics. They used the name NM Electronics for almost a year before deciding to call their company Integrated Electronics or "Intel" for short. Since "Intel" was already trademarked by the hotel chain Intelco, they had to buy the rights for the name
The nickname Toshiba becomes official as Toshiba Corporation The nickname Toshiba is officially renamed Toshiba Corporation from Tokyo Shibaura Electric. M/A-COM Tech is renamed to just M/A-COM M/A-COM Technology Solutions changes name to M/A-COM to reflect the company's growing involvement in the telecommunication industry. Micron Technologies is established Micron Technologies is founded as a semiconductor design consulting company. Startup funding was provided by local Idaho businessmen Tom Nicholson, Allen Noble, Rudolph Nelson, and Ron Yanke. Later it received funding from Idaho billionaire J. R. Simplot, whose fortune was made in the potato business. FSC is acquired by SchlumbergerFSC is acquired by Schlumberger who would hold them for only 8 years before selling FSC again
General Instrument spins off its microelectronics division to form MicrochipMicrochip is founded when General Instrument spins off its microelectronics division as a wholly owned subsidiary. Microchip Technology would become an independent company in 1989, when it would be acquired by a group of venture capitalists, and go public in 1993.
Voyager Components is FoundedTwo brothers at the age of 13 & 16 comb the yellow pages to sell some capacitors that their father had acquired.
Voyager Components grows through acquisitionCalifornia IC Company is acquired by Voyager Components to expand semiconductor lines
Voyager Components Inc is welcomed to the Silicon ForestVoyager Components headquarters moves from Los Angeles to the Silicon Forest to establish new markets
Voyager Components restructures to capture opportunity in declining market Microchip acquires AtmelChandler, Arizona – April 4, 2016 – Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ: MCHP), a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and flash-IP solutions, announces that it has completed its acquisition of Atmel Corporation.
Microchip acquires MicrelAugust 3, 2015, Microchip announced that Microchip has completed its acquisition of Micrel. Shareholders of Micrel overwhelmingly approved the merger with 98.95% of the Micrel shares that voted in favor of the merger. Microchip paid an aggregate of approximately $430 million in cash and issued an aggregate of over 8 Million shares of its common stock to Micrel shareholders.
Intel Completes $16.7 Billion Buy of AlteraIntel and Altera announced on June 1, 2015, that they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Intel would acquire Altera for $54 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $16.7 billion. The transaction closed December 28, 2015. The acquisition was expected to couple Intel’s leading-edge products and manufacturing process with Altera’s leading field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology in order to enable new classes of products that meet customer needs in the data center and Internet of Things (IoT) market segments.
Intel began to offer Altera’s FPGA products with Intel Xeon® processors as highly customized, integrated products. The companies also enhanced Altera’s products through design and manufacturing improvements resulting from Intel’s integrated device manufacturing mode
INTEL acquires ALTERA in the largest Intel transaction to dateAltera and Intel announced on June 1, 2015 that they have agreed that Intel would acquire Altera in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $16.7 billion. As of December 28, 2015, the acquisition had been completed
Intel plans to let Altera operate as a new business unit that will keep the Altera brand and some operations that are foreign to Intel. Though future Altera chips will be made in Intel factories, for example, existing products will continue to be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co
Atmel was foundedA former Intel employee, George Perlegos leaves Intel and founds the competing company Atmel
IRC Corporation was founded in Philadelphia IRC Corporation was founded in Philadelphia Hitachi goes publicAmerican occupational forces tried to disband Hitachi altogether during WWII then the Korean War saved the company from complete collapse as Hitachi benefited from defense contracts offered by the American military. In the midst of all the changes Hitachi went public and had a new beginning.
Hitachi is foundedHitachi is founded in 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira in Ibaraki Prefecture, who begain manufacturing Japan's first 5-horsepower induction motors.
TRW Corporation acquires IRC TT Electronics gains the IRC resistor lineTT Group gained the IRC brand through a hostile takeover of 81year old Crystalate Manufacturing Company, a British resistors and sensors manufacturing company and parent company of IRC.
TT Electronics beginsthe old 1800's company, Tyzack Turner Group plc, was renamed TT Group plc in 1988 and would eventually take on the name of TT Electronics
Infineon acquires International RectifierMunich, Germany, and El Segundo, California – January 13, 2015 – Infineon Technologies AG announced the closing of the $3 billion dollar acquisition of International Rectifier.
creation of the first silicon-based rectifierInternational Rectifier creates the first silicon-based rectifier
International Rectifier is founded Power Trends is acquired by TIIn the stock-for-stock transaction based aquisition, TI issued about 1.7 million shares worth approximately $145 million in exchange for all outstanding shares of Power Trends.
Nexperia was NXP's sub-brand for a range of media processors and in 2017 Nexperia became independant of NXP taking with it over 11,000 employees across Asia, Europe and the U.S
Analog Devices acquires Linear Tech
$14.8 B cash and stock deal included a payment from ADI of $60 per share for Linear Tech, which is a 24% premium over Linear’s closing price. Together both companies aniticpate first years revenues to exceed $5 B
Atmel goes public To provide for a quick infusion of cash, the founder, Perlegos converted to public ownership in 1991. The company made its initial public offering in March of 5,175,000 shares at $13 per share, yielding Atmel more than $65 million to fund its expansion in the coming years. Atmel acquires Concurrent Logic Between 1991 and 1993 Atmel expanded into fab after purchasing FPGA manufacturer, Concurrent Logic Atmel purchases Quantum Research Group Ltd In 2008 Atmel purchased Quantum Research Group Ltd. (now known as Atmel Technologies Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary), a supplier of capacitive sensing technology.[16] Work done at Quantum, led to the 2012 release of Atmel\'s XSense product line, a flexible touch screen based on copper mesh electrodes IDT sells smart metering product lines to Atmel Atmel purchased the smart metering product lines of IDT Corporation in March 2013 Microchip attempts to takeover Atmel with no success October 2008, Atmel received an unsolicited offer from Microchip Technology and ON Semiconductor, estimated at US$2.3 billion.The offer was eventually rejected and the companies gave up on their hostile takeover attempt Atmel turns downs offer from Cypress Atmel receives offers from both Cypress Semiconductor and Dialog Semiconductor and rejects them both ON Semi acquires FSC ON Semiconductor has successfully completed its previously announced $2.4 billion cash acquisition of Fairchild Avago sells SSD controller business to Seagate May of 2014 Avago is founded from a spin-off of Agilent, a division of Hewlett-Packard The company was founded in 1961 as a semiconductor products division of Hewlett-Packard. The division separated from Hewlett-Packard as part of Agilent Technologies in 1999 being the largest IPO in history of Silicon Valley at the time. KKR and Silver Lake Partners acquired the division of Agilent Technologies in 2005 for $2.6 billion and formed Avago Technologies LSI Corporation is acquired by Avago Avago announced its agreement to acquire LSI Corporation in December 2013 for $6.6 billion helping to move Avago away from specialized products and towards a more mainstream industry, which included chips, especially storage for data centers. A year later they would become the ninth largest semiconductor company Avago acquires Broadcom for $37 Billion Avago acquired Broadcom for $37 billion ($17 billion cash and $20 billion in shares).The combined company, which would be named Broadcom Ltd., will have annual revenue of $15 billion and a market value of $77 billion. Broadcom Corp. will strengthen Avago Technologies\' patent position significantly in sectors such as mobile, the data center and the Internet of Things and would make the company the ninth largest holder of patents among the top semiconductor vendors, according to an analysis by technology consulting firm LexInnova Agilent exits the Semiconductor manufacturing industry In August 2005, Agilent announced the sale of its semiconductor business, which produced chips for a wide range of consumer and industrial uses, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion Agilent exits the LED manufacturing industry August 2005, Agilent sold its 47% stake in the LED manufacturer Lumileds to Philips for $1 billion. Lumileds originally started as Hewlett-Packard\'s optoelectronics division Microchip acquires Microsemi Microchip Technology Inc announces it would buy Microsemi Corp, the largest U.S. commercial supplier of military and aerospace semiconductor equipment, for about $8.35 billion AVX Corporation is established AVX began in 1972 making ceramic capacitors as a subsidiary of Aerovox Corporation and AVX became the parent company of Aerovox a year laterFairchild Semi was founded by 8 key ex employees of Shockley Semiconductor and about a decade later the pattern repeated as 8 key employees left Fairchild Semi to form competing company AMD.
Hitachi's logo was inspired by Japans imperial rising sun flag. The name Hitachi is actually comprised of the two words hi meaning “sun” and tachi meaning “rise”.
Mostek makes a Mistake. In age when Jobs and Wozniak were founding Apple , one company owned rights to the processors used in both the Apple and the IBM computers. In fact Mostek had secured the rights to every microprocessor family of importance, including the the Zilog Z80, Intel x86, and Mot 68000. However, Mostek did very little to leaverage their position and after years of financial troubles, would eventually be forced to sell out.
Itallian company, Thomson acted quickly purchasing Mostek and immediately opened several lawsuits around their newly acquired intellectual property portfolio. Thomson went on collected over $430 million in royalties. That same year, the semiconductor division of Thomson merged with SGS Microelecttronica to become STMicroelectronics.
Within a two year period, both Intel and AMD were started by small groups of rogue FSC employees who relied on one another to gain market share against FSC.
The worlds quickest engineer took Tesla to the finish line! Racecar driver Ze'ev Drori was previously an engineer at FSC and the founder of MMI Monolythic Memories. The rubber hit the road in 2007 when Drori became CEO of Tesla Motors and earned the title as the man who turned around Tesla.
One mans head cold froze the entire industry! Unbeknownst to one another, all chip makers used the same diamond-tipped saws to slice ignots into silicon wafers. As it turns out, only one man was producing all of these saws in his garage and in the 70's, he took some sick days off, interupting the entire global chip supply market.
The Mitsubishi logo is nuts! Three chestnuts, to be exact. Mitsu translates to three and bishi translates to water chestnut or rhombus. The logo is three diamond chestnuts.
Sanyo and Matsushita are related by marriage (or their founders are)! The owner of Sanyo got started in his brother in-law\\\'s plant…. Matsushita
A group of competitors came together in a venture to begin the Next eXPerience, and would call this experience the NXP
Back in the days when radios were still Violas, a small company ventured to make a Viola that was compatible with Motor Vehicles. They received the reputation for Motor Viola and would soon after take on the name Motorola.
Gordon and Robert made a fortune selling more noise! Moor Noyce was the original desired name for Intel but after some careful consideration, founders Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce agreed that it might be better to just abbreviate as MN Electronics. Still unsatisfied, they moved to the name Integrated Electronics Corporation and eventually shortened it to INTEL.
At just 30 years old, the legendary Robert Norton Noyce, AKA the \"Mayor of Silicon Valley\", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor and a decade later founded the Intel Corporation
