8 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American electrical engineer and founder of MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) who designed the Altair 8800 — the first mass-market personal computer kit — and sold it for $397 via mail order in 1975, triggering the personal computer revolution.
American electronics company (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) founded by Ed Roberts in 1969 — which created the Altair 8800 in 1975 — and which was the first company to sell a commercially viable personal computer kit.
American electronics company founded by Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 — which produced the first mobile phone (Martin Cooper, 1973), the 68000 microprocessor (used in early Macs), and Motorola Solutions (communications) — before being acquired by Google and then Lenovo.
American electronics company that manufactured disk drives and computing peripherals — and which acquired MITS (creator of the Altair 8800) in 1977 — before being itself acquired and dissolved in the 1980s.
South Korean multinational conglomerate founded in 1938 — and the world's largest manufacturer of consumer electronics, semiconductors, and display panels — whose Galaxy smartphone line is Apple's primary competitor and whose semiconductor foundry is a critical global infrastructure provider.
American inventor, photographer, and investor who funded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 — being the largest individual shareholder of IBM (whose shares he inherited) — and whose willingness to fund the Traitorous Eight made the semiconductor revolution possible.
American conglomerate founded by Henry Singleton in 1960 — built through 130+ acquisitions of defense and industrial technology companies — and then dramatically increased in per-share value through Singleton's countercyclical share repurchase program, buying back 90% of shares outstanding.
American semiconductor company based in Dallas — which developed the first integrated circuit (Jack Kilby, 1958) and the first pocket calculator (1967) — and which became a major producer of digital signal processors and embedded processors.