
Fairchild, Fairchildren, and the Family Tree of Silicon Valley (2016) - zolpidem_dream
https://computerhistory.org/blog/fairchild-and-the-fairchildren/
======
segfaultbuserr
The early-to-middle period of the Silicon Valley semiconductor industry was
definitely much more interesting than today's world of oligopolies, company
consolidation, and fabless development. It's quite disappointing to see the
big names in the industry have all vanished.

A bunch of examples I'm aware of are...

* Motorola => Freescale & ON Semiconductor

* Fairchild Semiconductor => ON Semiconductor

* Signetics => Philips Semiconductors => NXP

* Freescale => NXP

* National Semiconductor => Texas Instruments

* Linear Technology => Analog Devices

* Atheros => Qualcomm

* Atmel => Microchip

Microchip buying Atmel is almost the equivalent of Intel buying AMD in the
embedded microcontroller industry. It shouldn't have happened. Where were the
regulators? Did they approve the acquisition because they believe the market
would still have competition from ARM-based microcontroller makers like ST? I
don't know what was the reasoning.

Fortunately, Qualcomm didn't end up buying NXP (there was a proposal) and
Broadcom didn't end up buying Qualcomm.

~~~
zokier
> Microchip buying Atmel is almost the equivalent of Intel buying AMD in the
> embedded microcontroller industry.

Not really. Pre-acquisition the were pretty well matched in terms of mcu
market share (Microchip was bigger company due wider portfolio), and even
post-acquisition they ended up being on the third place after NXP and
Renesans.

[http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/NXP-Acquires-
Freesc...](http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/NXP-Acquires-Freescale-
Becomes-Top-MCU-Supplier-In-2016/)

~~~
segfaultbuserr
Interesting, thanks for pointing out the fact. I was surprised to see the top
supplier is NXP, those consolidations have _really_ made NXP a much more
powerful company. Back in 2010s, the tops were Renesas, Freescale, Atmel and
Microchip [0].

[0] [https://www.eetimes.com/despite-challenges-renesas-still-
dom...](https://www.eetimes.com/despite-challenges-renesas-still-dominant-in-
mcus/#)

------
supernova87a
Funny, when I read the headline, my mind instead went to "pollution in Silicon
Valley". Because that's the most concrete thing I currently associate with the
legacy of these companies, maybe because I'm in the process of trying to find
a relatively affordable new house to buy on the little remaining land that
isn't already held on to by the millionaires.

You find that the housing that can be built now (usually on north side of El
Camino / Caltrain tracks) is on land that people previously didn't want, which
frequently (you also find) has had a history of groundwater contamination,
industrial waste leftovers, etc. Making your $1M+ house instantly devalued /
hard to buy and eventually hard to sell.

Sure, Silicon Valley has all this innovation, growth, rebirth -- but that also
comes with failures and the waste (tangible, leftover solid waste) that we
have to deal with because companies can't be made to pay for it at the time.

Maybe when I apply for a job at a Fairchild-child company I'll think to the
glorious history of their innovation and branching, but right now, I mostly
think of why I can't find a decent place to live.

~~~
segfaultbuserr
> _and the waste (tangible, leftover solid waste)_

Liquid waste, such as TCE, and gaseous waste, such as various VOCs, and the
groundwater and air pollution they caused, is a much bigger problem. Not solid
waste, and not "tangible", they are silent killers.

> _companies can 't be made to pay for it at the time._

The issue of payment was only one aspect.

I'd say early inexperience on semiconductor manufacturing was another major
factor responsible for the pollution, many safeguards, industrial or
regulatory, were simply not in place at that time. For example, many plants
had storage tanks as parts of the production process, a common practice in the
industry - most ended up having a massive leak, releasing various harmful
chemical pollutants, including highly toxic TCE. And it seems the companies
weren't doing it deliberately to save costs, many pollution events were "just"
industrial accidents, and few foresaw the consequences of leaking tanks, not
to say that some leaks were only discovered years later.

Now the companies are doing the cleanup under the supervision of the EPA, I
think it's fortunate in a sense that these companies are the world's most
powerful ones and they have the ability to pay, not some non-existent
companies that already declared bankruptcy. And unfortunately, the price we
are paying now for being ignorant in the early days is that the pollution
still requires many years, or even many decades, of work to achieve even a
_basic_ , minimum level of cleanup. Some cleanup efforts have been active
since the late 80s, and was still being continued working on in the 2010s.

It's almost certain that nanotechnology is going to be the future technology,
and imagine what could possibly go wrong in the early production of commercial
products when their problems are not known... I'd say it's going to be
repetition of what Silicon Valley did - both a revolution and massive
pollution.

Some examples:

* COMMODORE SEMICONDUCTOR GROUP

(Yes, the plant that produced MOS 6502 that we knew and love, and it was a
pioneer for making the first widely-used microprocessor for personal
computers, and also a pioneer for having a massive leak of TCE storage
tank...)

> Background: Waste solvents were stored in an underground concrete storage
> tank on site until 1975, when it was taken out of service. An unlined steel
> tank was installed next to the concrete one in 1975. Inspections conducted
> by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) indicated
> that both tanks leaked.

> Cleanup: In 1981, Commodore excavated soils and pumped water from a
> contaminated well, then sprayed it onto surrounding fields. The volatile
> organic compounds (VOCs) dissipated into the air. Since 1984, air strippers
> have been in use to remove solvents from the groundwater.[...] Construction
> of the groundwater extraction and treatment system began in the Fall of
> 1999. In February 2000, pipelines and underground wiring were installed,
> pumps were installed at each of the extraction wells, and the groundwater
> treatment building was constructed. The treatment process equipment was
> installed in May 2000. Preliminary start-up and testing of the system began
> in August 2000.

* ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.

> Background: Two below-ground acid neutralization system (ANS) tank vaults
> were located at the northern and southern ends of the 901 and 902 Thompson
> Place buildings, respectively. Leaks from these ANS tanks appears to be the
> primary on-site source of VOCs to groundwater in this area.

> Cleanup: After the two acid neutralization tanks were removed, AMD excavated
> and disposed of soil impacted with VOCs, and installed a groundwater
> extraction and treatment system. Extracted groundwater was treated with air
> stripping technology followed by carbon adsorption. [...] The groundwater
> extraction and treatment system began operating in 1983 and continued
> through 2002, when it was discontinued with State approval to allow for an
> in-situ bioremediation (ISB) pilot test. The full-scale ISB system, which
> was initially pilot-tested from 2002 through 2004, and then expanded in
> 2005, includes groundwater treatment by carbon filtration and injection of
> an organic carbon source to stimulate the growth of naturally-occurring
> microbes that break down target VOCs into environmentally-benign end
> products.

* INTEL CORP. (MOUNTAIN VIEW PLANT)

> Background: The site is one of three Superfund or National Priorities List
> (NPL) sites that are being cleaned up simultaneously. The other two
> Superfund sites are the Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (Mountain View Plant)
> site and the Raytheon site. The three sites are located in the Middlefield-
> Ellis-Whisman (MEW) Study Area. Site investigations at several of these
> facilities during 1981 and 1982 revealed significant soil and groundwater
> contamination by toxic chemicals, primarily volatile organic compounds
> (VOCs).

> Cleanup: Under EPA’s direction and oversight, Intel has implemented the soil
> and groundwater cleanup program at the former Intel facility. The soil
> cleanup has been completed at the site and all the former MEW facilities.

* FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. (MOUNTAIN VIEW PLANT)

> Background: The 56-acre former Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (Mountain View)
> site is located in Mountain View, California. A facility on site
> manufactured semiconductors. The site is one of three Superfund National
> Priorities List (NPL) sites that are being cleaned up simultaneously.

> Cleanup Activities: Under EPA’s direction and oversight, [...] Fairchild
> Semiconductor Corp. [...] implemented soil and groundwater cleanup programs
> that have included soil excavation and treatment, installation of four
> slurry walls, soil vapor extraction and treatment systems, and groundwater
> extraction and treatment systems. The soil cleanup by soil vapor extraction
> and excavation and aeration has been completed at all the former MEW
> facilities, including the former Fairchild facilities. Groundwater cleanup
> will continue to operate for many decades in order to meet the
> trichloroethene (TCE) groundwater cleanup standard of 5 parts per billion.
> The MEW site groundwater remedy has removed over 76,000 pounds of
> contaminants, and has reduced contaminant concentrations throughout the
> multiple aquifer zones.

> HEWLETT-PACKARD (620-640 PAGE MILL ROAD)

> Cleanup: Extensive investigation and cleanup at the HP Site has been
> conducted since discovery of a release from a 1,000-gallon underground waste
> solvent tank in 1981. Interim remedial measures included excavation and off-
> site disposal between 1987 and 1992 of approximately 10,700 cubic yards of
> soil, construction and operation (beginning in 1994) of a soil vapor
> extraction and treatment (SVET) system; and groundwater extraction and
> treatment beginning in 1987 and continuing to the present day.

> NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.

> Background: The National Semiconductor Corporation (National Semiconductor)
> previously manufactured electronic equipment at this 50-acre site.
> Underground storage tanks, sumps, and pipes are the suspected sources for
> contaminated groundwater and soil in Sunnyvale underneath the site.

> Cleanup: Beginning in 1982, contaminated soils, leaking tanks and equipment
> were removed. Subsequently, National Semiconductor initiated a program of
> pumping and treating the groundwater to contain the contaminated plume while
> further site studies were underway. In 1989, National Semiconductor began
> investigating the type and extent of contamination at the site. The
> investigation was completed in 1991, and the EPA selected the final remedy
> for the site. Construction of the remedy began in 1991. The final cleanup
> remedy, which includes soil vapor extraction and operation of the
> groundwater extraction and treatment system, is ongoing.

------
netsharc
Calling NeXT failed seems misinformed. As far as I understood it, Apple bought
them but it was more like a reverse-takeover, NeXT's CEO Jobs became Apple's
CEO, and the OS NeXT was developing basically became Mac OS X.

Indeed classes from Apple's Objective-C framework begin with NS (e.g.
NSString) because they came from NeXTSTEP...

And IMO "Powered by Noyce & Moore" would sound more bad-ass than "Intel
Inside".

------
omarhaneef
This is too broad a brush.

Giving Fairchild credit for Google (because, I suppose, one of the founders of
Kleiner Perkins worked there) is like giving DE Shaw credit for Amazon.

(Actually, I would argue the DE Shaw - Amazon case is stronger!)

I wish they would draw a more direct tree. People who directly founded
companies. Is it Intel, Sequoia and Kleiner?

------
aswanson
Pushing it back further, Fairchild was born of US DOD demand for military
electronics. So, the US military is the founding father of Silicon Valley.

~~~
joezydeco
Read or watch Steve Blank's "The Secret History of Silicon Valley"

[https://steveblank.com/secret-history/](https://steveblank.com/secret-
history/)

The Shockley->Fairchild era doesn't get on screen until 54:25.

------
creeble
There was a Fairchild diode plant in San Rafael, Marin County that operated
into the early 80's I think. Then it sat as a hazardous waste site for quite a
few years. My little office/shop/man cave is very close to where it was, and
I'm waiting for some Fairchild "entrepreneur contamination" to bear (probably
genetically-deformed) fruit.

------
downerending
Annoyingly, the family tree image is too fuzzy to read. Anyone have a link to
a full-size version?

------
throw0101a
Any relation to Fairchild Republic/Aircraft?

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunde...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II)

~~~
pests
Sherman Fairchild started over 70 companies from photography to aviation to
obviously semiconductors. Their cameras were used for some of the Apollo
missions as well.

I always enjoy running across something related to him. He seemed to have his
fingers in a lot of very important pies and surprised he doesn't get mentioned
more.

