Fairchild is one of the legendary electronics companies; it was the ‘nursery’ for the modern electronics industry, providing the opportunity for legends such as Bob Noyce, Andrew Grove and Gordon Bell to further develop their silicon based design talents after they split - as part of the ‘Traitorous Eight’ - from the germanium focused Shockley Semiconductor. That ‘nursery’ lead to the creation of Intel in 1968.
Here's a few more of those whose careers boomed at Fairchild: Federico Faggin, designer of Intel’s 4004 microprocessor; Wilf Corrigan, founder of LSI Logic; and Jerry Sanders, cofounder of AMD.
Since its establishment in 1957, Fairchild has been through a number of hands, with the name appearing and disappearing. Schlumberger bought the operation in 1979, then sold it to National Semiconductor in 1987. National Semiconductor then spun Fairchild off in 1997.
Now, it looks like the Fairchild name might disappear again.
- For more on Fairchild’s history, click here
