Computers, Integrated circuits

William Shockley, a coinventor of the transistor, started Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in 1955 in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. In 1957 his eight top researchers left to form Fairchild Semiconductor Company, funded by Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company. Along with Hewlett-Packard, another Palo Alto firm, Fairchild Semiconductor was the seed of what