In 1957,
Sherman Mills Fairchild, founder of Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Corporation, sponsored a small group of young scientists in California
in their development of a new process for the manufacture of transistors.
The goal of the Fairchild scientists--among them Robert Noyce and
Gordon Moore, eventual founders of Intel Corporation--was to develop,
mass produce and market semiconductor components that would meet the
most stringent specifications. 
They reached the goal in 1959 with the introduction of the Planar
process. Planar technology became the fundamental method of producing
transistors and integrated circuits and is still regarded as one
of the most significant achievements in semiconductor technology
since the invention of the transistor.
 Through the years,
Fairchild has captured worldwide attention for semiconductor innovation
and manufacturing excellence that continues to this day. From industry-leading
developments such as the FAST™ family of advanced Schottky
TTL logic to the current ASSP EEPROM, ACEx™ microcontrollers,
PowerTrench® and QFET™ MOSFETs, IGBTs, GTLP, LCX and VCX
technologies, TinyLogic™ family of single and dual gates, and
undershoot protected switches, Fairchild has captured the imagination
of decades of design engineers and put it to work in exciting technologies
that are shaping how our world interacts.
 Headquartered in South
Portland, Maine, Fairchild is focused on five business units: the
Interface & Logic Group in South Portland, the Discrete Power
and Signal Technologies Group in San Jose, California, the Power
Device business in Puchon, South Korea, the Analog & Mixed Signal
Group in West Jordan, Utah and the Optoelectronics Group in San
Jose, California. The company produces power, interface, analog,
mixed signal, logic, and configurable product devices in world-class
4, 5 and 6-inch silicon wafer fabrication facilities in South Portland,
West Jordan and Puchon, and Gallium-Arsenide infrared emitter die
in its III-V wafer die preparation facility in Singapore. Fairchild
has assembly and test plants in Cebu, the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur
and Penang, Malaysia, and Wuxi, China. The South Portland site has
continuously manufactured semiconductors longer than any facility
in the world and features a submicron Class 1 6-inch fab.
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