Citation
Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970
TL;DR
31 companies spun out of Fairchild Semiconductor (1965-1970)
This historical account documents how thirty-one companies spun out of Fairchild Semiconductor between 1965-1970, creating the foundation of Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry. The book provides detailed evidence for the monocarpic 'spinout factory' phenomenon where a single parent company seeds an entire industrial ecosystem.
The research shows that Fairchild's 'flowering' was largely involuntary - driven by the East Coast parent company's failure to provide equity and reinvest profits - yet the resulting offspring (Intel, AMD, National Semiconductor, and others) created more economic value than Fairchild itself ever generated.
Key Findings from Lécuyer (2006)
- 31 companies spun out of Fairchild Semiconductor (1965-1970)
- Spinouts included Intel, AMD, National Semiconductor
- Fairchild Camera (parent) starved capital and refused equity to engineers
- Talent flight was involuntary from Fairchild's perspective
- Offspring collectively created more value than parent
- Pattern established Silicon Valley's spinout culture