Fairchild is a Pioneer in the Semiconductor Industry

William Shockley started Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory as a division of Beckman Instruments in 1956. He recruited former colleagues from Bell Labs and hired the best graduates coming from American engineering school in order to move forward with his plan of developing a new “4-layer diode” that would be work much better than current transistors. Only one year later, these new hired engineers left and decided to form their own company, thus turning to Fairchild Camera and Instrument.

Fairchild Semiconductor was officially established in 1957 in San Jose, California as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Since then, it has grown to its current size of 9,000 employees and $1.4 billion in annual revenue. It wasn’t until 1997 that Fairchild was spun off as an independent company. Today, it continues to be a pioneer in the manufacturing of transistors and integrated circuits. It has also expanded operations to include locations in Maine, Utah, Pennsylvania, and also locations outside the US that include Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and most recently, India. They utilize their internal and external manufacturing capabilities as well as their multi-source supply chain, couples with their design, technology, materials, and process and packaging innovation in order to maintain a competitive advantage. They have now become one of the most respected publicly-traded companies in the industry.

Their current business encompasses power management semiconductors, discrete semiconductors, mixed signal and analog, lighting, circuit protection, and optoelectronic devices. Through their global supply chain, Fairchild then supplies these products for use in any of the following applications: automotive, consumer, computing, lighting, industrial/energy conversion, mobile, network communication, power supply, motor control, and medical.