ABSTRACT
Integrated circuits (IC) were the central innovation in the 1960s in the exploding semiconductor industry. The development of the silicon transistor and then of the tiny integrated circuits, in which a mass of components are grouped on a pin-head-sized clip, has transformed the electronics industry, slashing prices for components as well as their size. The integrated circuit revolution was taken a stage further in 1959–1960, when Fairchild's semiconductor division invented the planar process. The Ferranti Company is a good deal smaller than Texas Instruments (TI), but in 1950 it was a larger company. Until 1969, SGS overcame some of the problems of scale in development by its link with Fairchild. For a European company to achieve efficient operation evidently means serving the European market as a whole. The Bedford enterprise also obtains vital economies of scale by producing only when the market in Britain has reached economic size. Mullard, like Ferranti and TI, is an engineer-led company.
