Fairchild Semiconductor
Pioneering semiconductor company founded in 1957 by the 'traitorous eight' that became the monocarpic parent of Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry.
Pioneering semiconductor company founded in 1957 by the 'traitorous eight' that became the monocarpic parent of Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry. Between 1965-1970, thirty-one companies spun out of Fairchild, including Intel and AMD.
Fairchild's flowering was involuntary - engineers left because the East Coast parent company (Fairchild Camera & Instrument) starved capital and refused equity. The parent withered (acquired 1987, dissolved 1997), but the offspring created more economic value than Fairchild itself ever generated.
Key Leaders at Fairchild Semiconductor
Gordon Moore
R&D Director
Left in 1968 to co-found Intel
Robert Noyce
Executive
Co-invented integrated circuit, left to co-found Intel