The New York Times called the day that the eight young scientists resigned from Shockley Semiconductor on September 18, 1957, “one of the ten days that changed the world.” The scientists, later known as the “Traitorous Eight,” went on to found Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel.
In this 15-minute documentary by filmmaker Craig Addison, members of the traitorous eight recall a lab accident that was one of the final straws. “We had an incident in one of the laboratory where, actually, a little pin point was left in one of the doors and a lady cut her hand on it a bit,” Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel recalled. “Shockley decided that was malicious and started trying to track down who had put this point there in order to hurt this lady.”
Added Julius Blank: “He felt that this was sabotage and somebody was out to get him and he started a whole program of bringing in detectives with lie detectors. And that was really off the wall. We didn’t take to kindly to that kind of thing at all.”
Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the forefathers of the semiconductor industry, announced Thursday it is closing two of its six wafer-fabrication plants.
The company, which has corporate offices in South Portland, ME and San Jose, said it would close water-fabrication plants in Mountaintop, PA and Bucheon, South Korea.
The company said the Mountaintop, PA site will close except for a small office and that about 200 jobs will be cut. Two other plants in Bucheon, South Korea that have five-inch and six-inch wafer assembly lines will remain open. (The Korean plant that is closing had a four-inch line.) The company will also continue to operate plants in Maine and Utah.
Mark Thompson, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that closures were necessary for the longterm health of the company. “We are committed to staying cost competitive in these hard economic times, and these changes will simplify operations, improve productivity and reduce costs,” he said.
The closures will be completed in June 2010 and could cost up to $23 million in cash charges and up to $30 million for impairments an accelerated depreciation. The company expects to save between $20 million and $25 million a year as a result of closures.
The company’s stock closed on Thursday at $4, up 4 percent.
John Gifford, who founded analog chip maker Maxim Integrated Products and served as its chief executive until his retirement in 2007, passed away Sunday of an apparent heart attack, according to a company press release distributed Monday.
Gifford was born in 1941 and grew up in Los Angeles. After graduating from UCLA in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he worked for Fairchild Semiconductor, first in sales in L.A. and later in marketing in Silicon Valley.
C. Lester Hogan, whose move to the legendary Fairchild Camera & Instrument from Motorola with eight of its senior executives (dubbed “Hogan’s Heros” by some) resulted in Motorola (unsuccessfully) suing Fairchild for theft of trade secrets, died Tuesday, according to his daughter Cheryl Lee Lea Hogan, who shares his initials. He was 88.
Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the forefathers of the semiconductor industry, announced Thursday it is closing two of its six wafer-fabrication plants.
John Gifford, who founded analog chip maker Maxim Integrated Products and served as its chief executive until his retirement in 2007, passed away Sunday of an apparent heart attack, according to a 
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