Semiconductor Industry Milestones

1947	Bell Labs invents transistor on December 23. Its first commercial use is in products for the hearing impaired.

1949	International Rectifier ships first commercial semiconductor devices.

1953	Motorola applies for its first semiconductor-related patent to develop low-cost transistors for audio power stages of radio communication receivers and auto radios.

1957	The semiconductor industry surpasses $100 million in sales for the first time.

1958	Texas Instruments’ (TI) Jack Kilby demonstrates first integrated circuit (IC).

1961	TI builds the first IC computer.

	Motorola is the first to use the epitaxial method, developed by Bell Labs, to mass-produce semiconductors.

1963	Companies begin shipping ICs.

1964	Texas Instruments provides the first ICs used in a consumer product, a hearing aid.

	The semiconductor industry surpasses $1 billion in sales for the first time.

1965	Gordon Moore predicts exponential growth (biannual doubling) in chip power. It becomes known as “Moore’s Law.”

1978	TI introduces the first single-chip speech synthesizer. Its first use: The Speak & Spell Toy.

1979	The semiconductor industry surpasses $10 billion in sales.

1983	Altera invents the first reprogrammable device (PLD).

1987	Dr. Morris Chang founds TSMC, the world’s largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry.

	Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of the world's top three silicon foundries, is founded.

1994	Industry leaders incorporate FSA to achieve a more optimal balance between wafer demand and capacity.

	FSA has 40 founding members.

	The semiconductor industry surpasses $100 billion sales.

1995	FSA announces its first Wafer Demand Forecast.

	FSA holds its first Suppliers Expo, the premier event dedicated to bringing together suppliers, fabless companies, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and other organizations that play a vital role in the semiconductor industry.

	FSA holds its first annual Awards Dinner celebration to recognize fabless companies for their outstanding achievements in the industry.

	UMC, one of the world's top three silicon foundries, begins its transformation from an IDM to a pure-play foundry.

	Cirrus Logic is the fastest fabless company to achieve $1 billion in revenues, doing so in 45 quarters.

1996	Genesis Microchip is the first company to produce a single-chip video de-interlacer.

1997	FSA surpasses 100 members.

1998	A new study shows that the semiconductor industry is the No. 1 driver of growth for the U.S. economy, providing jobs for 260,000 people and creating an additional 1.4 million jobs for people who provide goods and services for the industry.

	FSA and NationsBanc Montgomery Securities (NMS) jointly launch the NMS/FSA Fabless Stock Index (FABLSSM Index).

1999	FSA establishes a new award at its annual awards dinner. The Exemplary Leadership award was designed to recognize an individual's outstanding contributions to the fabless semiconductor sector. The first ever Exemplary Leadership award was presented to Dr. Morris Chang, Chairman and Founder, TSMC. As a tribute to Dr. Chang and his success, FSA renamed the award and now presents it as the "Dr. Morris Chang Award for Exemplary Leadership."

	Xilinx invents first million-gate FPGA; 2.5V CPLD; and 64-bit, 66 MHz PCI component.

2000	Worldwide semiconductor sales exceed $200 billion for the first time in semiconductor history.

	U.S. fabless revenues exceed $16 billion.

	The fabless industry outperforms the worldwide semiconductor industry, growing 68% compared to a growth of 39% for the worldwide industry.

	Broadcom is the fastest fabless company to achieve $1 billion in revenue, doing so in 36 quarters.

2001	FSA surpasses 200 members.

	FSA and Merrill Lynch announce a partnership that provides the reintroduction of the FSA/Merrill Lynch Fabless Stock Index [FABLS].

	NVIDIA is the fastest fabless company to achieve $1 billion in revenues, doing so in 32 quarters.

	China is accepted as a member of the World Trade Organization, paving the way for many semiconductor companies to enter China.

2002	FSA surpasses 300 members.

	FSA holds its first-ever East Coast keynote and panel discussion in Boston.

	FSA and JEDEC announce the release of a Foundry Process Qualification Guideline.

2003	FSA surpasses 400 members.

	FSA expands globally, forming an Asia-Pacific Leadership Council, and opening its first international offices in Hsinchu and Taipei Taiwan.

	Worldwide fabless company revenue surpasses $26.2 billion, growing more than 23% year-over-year.

2004	FSA has more than 450 members.

	FSA celebrates its 10th anniversary.

	FSA’s Mixed-Signal (MS)/RF Committee’s PDK working group released its Mixed-Signal/RF PDK Checklist, which provides guidelines to showcase PDK quality.

	FSA plans its first Suppliers Expo in Taiwan.

2005	Worldwide fabless company revenue surpasses $41 billion; 18% of semiconductor industry

	FSA’s Mixed-Signal/RF Committee’s Model working group released its SPICE Model Checklist, providing mixed-signal/RF designers using foundry SPICE models with consistent data to make foundry process and IC design decisions.

	The fabless industry outpaced the rest of the semiconductor industry in fundings, closing $1.6 billion, contributing 73% to the overall semiconductor funding total ($2.2 billion).

	On November 15th ViMicro became the first Chinese fabless company to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

2006	FSA hosts inaugural Global Leadership Summit in Shanghai.

	FSA’s Mixed-Signal/RF Committee’s PDK working group released version 2.0 of its Mixed-Signal/RF PDK Checklist, which provides guidelines to showcase PDK quality.