fairchild semiconductor corporate history site launched

“There is remarkably little permanent record of life at Fairchild ….. after all no one had any idea that a revolution was being wrought out in some prune-filled California valley.” *

The Fairchild Semiconductor entry on the Computer History Museum Corporate Histories Collection website attempts to redress this omission. Organized in a timeline format, the site provides access to documents, images, references, artifacts and other source materials that tell the story of the rise, fall and rebirth of this extraordinary company that spawned the phenomenon of Silicon Valley.

To explore the collection, visit http://www.computerhistory.org/corphist/index.php. Click on “Fairchild Semiconductor.” This will take you to “Company Details,” a brief historical overview. Click on the “Timeline” tab in the “View” menu bar. This will open a chronological timeline screen beginning with the Milestone: Beckman funds Shockley Semiconductor Labs (September 5, 1955). You can the scroll down through the entire document or jump to specific periods or themes from the selection boxes. 

Click on an Event to open an “Event Details” page. The right hand column provides access to “References” (links to external sources) and “Documents” (links to materials stored on the museum server). Note that to see any Document you must click on the Filename - underlined in red in text block in the upper left hand corner.

The site remains a work in progress. Additional input from alumni (Fairchildren), employees, their families, and historians is welcome. Contributions to the “Stories” pages are especially sought after. Add yours by registering as a contributor at http://www.computerhistory.org/corphist/ sending an e-mail to one of the Facilitators noted at the bottom of the Company Details page or to fairchild50th@computerhistory.org.

* Malone, Michael S. The Big Score: The Billion Dollar Story of Silicon Valley. New York: Doubleday, 1985