Who invented texas instruments

Because it was useful. He was a very practical person. When Kilby won the Nobel Prize, he wrote about his life. Read that here. Learn more about Kilby and his invention on TI's website. The City of Dallas issued a proclamation declaring Sept. TI marked the day on social media with the hashtag JackKilbyDay. TI employees wore Jack Kilby Day shirts and replicas of his distinctive glasses.

Join us as we celebrate modern day innovation on Sept. Search Query Show Search. Show Search Search Query. Play Live Radio. Next Up:. From cell phones, to modems, to Internet audio players, the chip has changed the world.

Kilby received the Nobel Prize in Physics on December 10, for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit. To congratulate him, President Bill Clinton wrote, "You can take pride in the knowledge that your work will help to improve lives for generations to come.

Print Page. Artifact Spotlight December Without wiring and soldering, components could be miniaturized, which allowed for more compact circuitry and also meant huge numbers of components could be crowded onto a single chip. To be sure, there were manufacturing problems to be overcome. The chips had to be produced in an entirely dust-free environment; an error-free method of "printing" the circuits onto the silicon chips had to be devised; and miniaturization itself made manufacturing difficult.

But Texas Instruments realized the chip's potential and, after two years of development, the company's first commercial integrated circuits were made available in Although the electronics industry initially greeted the chip with skepticism, integrated circuits became the foundation of modern microelectronics. But integrated circuits were ideally suited for use in computers. Together, chips and computers experienced explosive growth. Semiconductors quickly became a key element in space technology, too, and early interest by the military and the U.

Under Jack Kilby, TI built the first computer to use silicon integrated circuits for the air force. Demonstrated in , this ten-ounce, part computer proved that integrated circuits were practical. Another important breakthrough came in , when IBM began using integrated circuits in all its computers.

Soon the government was no longer TI's main customer, although defense electronics remained an important part of its business. Within ten years of Kilby's discovery, semiconductors had become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Early on, TI's management anticipated a huge world demand for semiconductors, and in the s the company built manufacturing plants in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

TI's early start in these markets gave the company an edge over its competitors. Haggerty had already challenged a team of engineers to develop a new product--the portable, pocket-sized calculator--to show that integrated circuits had a place in the consumer market. In , TI engineers invented a prototype hand-held calculator that weighed 45 ounces. It was four years before the hand-held calculator hit the stores, but once it did, it made history.

Within a few years, the once-ubiquitous slide rule was obsolete. In , TI invented the single-chip microprocessor, or microcomputer, which was introduced commercially the next year. It was this breakthrough chip that paved the way not only for small, inexpensive calculators but also for all sorts of computer-controlled appliances and devices.

Sales of calculators soared from about 3 million units in to 17 million in , 28 million in , and 45 million in Despite this early success, TI was to learn many bitter lessons about marketing to the American consumer. Even early success was hard won. Bowmar Instruments had been selling a calculator that used TI-made chips since In , when TI entered the calculator market and tried to undercut Bowmar's price, Bowmar quickly matched TI and a price war ensured.

TI subscribed to learning-curve pricing: keep prices low and profits small in the early stages to build market share and develop manufacturing efficiencies, and then competitors who want to enter the market later will find it difficult or impossible to compete. Almost overnight, TI's watches grabbed a large share of the electronic watch market at the expense of long-established watch manufacturers.

When low-cost Asian imports flooded the market in , however, Texas Instruments began to lose its dominant position. TI also failed to capitalize on liquid crystal display LCD technology, for which it held the basic patent. It had not anticipated strong consumer demand for LCD watches, which displayed the time continuously rather than requiring the user to push a button for a readout.

The company's digital watch sales dropped dramatically in , by the end of TI had left the digital watch business. Meanwhile, in TI's mainstay business, semiconductor manufacturing, orders for chips became backlogged.

Texas Instruments had spread its resources thinly in order to compete in both the consumer and industrial markets, and worldwide chip demand had soared at the same time. Despite these problems, TI grew at a rapid rate during the s. Defense electronics continued to be highly profitable and semiconductor demand remained strong, buoyed by the worldwide growth in consumer-electronics manufacturing.

Mark Shepherd was named chairman of the board upon Patrick Haggerty's retirement in , and J. Fred Bucy, who had worked in almost all of TI's major business areas, was named president and remained chief operating officer. Haggerty continued as general director and honorary chairman until his death in During the s the company moved into other areas, including metallurgical products, missile-guidance systems, and specialized computers. Intent on branching out into consumer electronics, chief executive Haggerty launched a research and development program in to build the first portable hand-held calculator.

TI introduced that product in The same year the company received the first patent on a microprocessor, a true "computer on a chip. During the s and s the company's attempt to move beyond such relatively low-priced consumer electronics as calculators and digital wristwatches yielded mixed results. Intensified foreign and domestic competition and TI's failure to break into the microcomputer market in the early s forced the company to lay off personnel and write off large losses in In the late s TI began to prosper again, focusing on its older strengths of military and commercial electronics and funding more research and development in the expanding field of artificial intelligence and computer graphics.