American semiconductor company founded in 1957 by the Traitorous Eight (Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Jean Hoerni, and others) after leaving Shockley Semiconductor — which developed the first commercially viable integrated circuit and spawned Silicon Valley's semiconductor ecosystem.
Created the integrated circuit as a commercial product — building on Jack Kilby's Texas Instruments demonstration — and established the talent network and cultural template for Silicon Valley: meritocratic, flat-hierarchy, equity-sharing, which became the template for every company the Fairchild alumni founded.
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