Makers of the Microchip
In this episode of Internet Origins, we explore Makers of the Microchip by Christophe Lécuyer and David Brock—the story of eight rebellious engineers who walked out on a Nobel laureate and, in doing so, founded an industry. From a rented warehouse in Palo Alto, the “Traitorous Eight” built Fairchild Semiconductor, invented the integrated circuit, and turned California’s orchards into Silicon Valley.
Episode Player
Transcript
Bot generated, may contain mistakes.
00:04 - 00:37 In a modest building in Palo Alto, California in 1957, eight young engineers were about to create the future. They had just walked out on their abusive boss, William Shockley, a Nobel Prize winning physicist who had co-invented the transistor. They had no product nor customers, but what they did have was talent and the shared belief that silicon transistors would change everything. With backing from Fairchild Camera and Instrument, their venture became Fairchild Semiconductor.
00:37 - 00:57 Today, the microchip industry these men helped create is the most strategically important industry on Earth. Nations compete for semiconductor supremacy the way they once competed for oil or steel. The United States restricts chip exports to adversaries. China spends more annually importing semiconductors than on oil.
00:57 - 01:18 Taiwan, producing most of the world's advanced chips, sits at the center of geopolitical tension. At its essence, a microchip is a switch. Billions of microscopic switches etched into silicon. These switches turn on and off millions of times per second, creating the ones and zeros that form digital information.
