#semiconductor history

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A plain hand-lettered company sign caught being hung above a workshop door in bright daylight, still a few inches from its final mounting position, a stack of resignation letters visible on a desk inside

The Eight Men Who Quit and Built Silicon Valley

Nearly every company in this cohort's history traces back to one 1957 resignation. Eight scientists walked out on their own boss and founded Fairchild Semiconductor — arguably the single most consequential exit in the industry's history.

By Brecht Corbeel · August 10, 2026 · 4 min read

A market-share chart on a bright wall showing two labelled regions' lines crossing, with a third, unlabelled region's line quietly rising in the background, a hand-free pointer caught indicating the third line rather than the two crossing ones

AI Hardware & Semiconductors

The Trade Deal That Was Supposed to Save US Chips. It Didn't — But It Also Didn't Do What Anyone Expected.

The US won the protection it asked for. American DRAM makers never came back. What actually happened next is a stranger, more interesting story than "protectionism failed."

By Brecht Corbeel · August 10, 2026 · 4 min read

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