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Texas Instruments (NYSE: [TXN]), better known in the electronics industry (and popularly) as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, USA, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology. TI is the No. 3 manufacturer of semiconductors worldwide after Intel and Samsung, and is the top supplier of chips for cellular handsets, as well as the No. 1 producer of digital signal processors (DSPs) and analog semiconductors. Other focus areas include chips for broadband modems, PC peripherals, digital consumer devices, and RFID. As of 2006, the company was listed at number 167 on the Fortune 500.

Contents

History

Texas Instruments was founded by Cecil H. Green, J. Erik Jonsson, Eugene McDermott and Patrick E. Haggerty. On December 6, 1941, Green, Jonsson, McDermott and H.B. Peacock purchased Geophysical Service Incorporated (GSI), a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry. During World War II, GSI built electronics for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S. Navy. After the war, GSI continued to produce electronics, and in 1951 the company changed its name to Texas Instruments; GSI became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the new company. An early success story for TI-GSI came in the 1950's when GSI was able (under a Top Secret government contract) to monitor the Soviet Union's underground nuclear weapons testing from outcrop bedrock found in Oklahoma. It is said that the US government knew the results of underground testing days before the Soviet Union could figure their own test results.

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In 1954, TI designed the first transistor radio. Also in the 1950s, the integrated circuit was developed independently by Jack Kilby of TI and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor. Kilby's patent for a "solid circuit" was filed in 1958. The 7400 series of transistor-transistor logic (TTL) chips, developed by TI in the 1960s, popularized the use of integrated circuits in computer logic, and is in widespread use to this day. TI also invented the hand-held calculator in 1967, the single-chip microcomputer in 1971 and was assigned the first patent on a single-chip microprocessor (invented by Gary Boone) in 1973. (Note: TI is usually given credit with Intel for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)

TI also continued to manufacture equipment for use in the seismic industry, and GSI continued to provide seismic services. After selling (and repurchasing) GSI, TI finally sold the company to Halliburton in 1988, at which point GSI ceased to exist as a separate entity.

TI had two interesting problems with engineering and product development after the introduction of the semiconductor and the microprocessor. 1) Most of the chemicals, machinery and technologies needed to create semiconductors did not exist so TI had to "Invent" these. 2) The market was small for TI electronic components in the early days so TI had to "Invent" uses. For example, TI created the first wall mounted, computer controlled, home set-back thermostat in the late '70s but nobody would buy it mostly because of its cost. TI started an Industrial Controls division which built automated process control computers used in the paint and soup industry and was very successful. This business was eventually sold to Siemens AG in 1991. TI turned to military and government uses and had many electro-mechanical devices used in the Apollo rocket and Moon Lander.

Consumer electronics and computers

TI continued to be active in the consumer electronics market through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978, Texas Instruments introduced the first single chip speech synthesizer and incorporated it in a product called the Speak & Spell, which was later immortalized in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Several spinoffs, such as the Speak & Read and Speak & Math, were introduced soon thereafter.

In June 1979, TI entered the home computer market with the TI99/4, a competitor to such entries as the TRS-80 and the later Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64. It discontinued the TI-99/4A (1981), the sequel to the 99/4, in late 1983 amidst an intense price war versus Commodore, Atari, and others. At the 1983 Winter CES TI showed models 99/2 and the Compact Computer 40 (CC-40), the latter aimed at professional users. The TI Professional (1983) ultimately joined the ranks of the many unsuccessful MS-DOS and x86-based--but non-compatible--competitors to the IBM PC. (Ironically, the founders of Compaq all came from TI.) The company for years successfully made and sold PC-compatible laptops before withdrawing from the market and selling its product line to Acer in 1997.

Defense electronics

TI was also active in the defense electronics market in the 1970s and 1980s, designing and manufacturing airborne radars and EO sensor systems, missiles, and laser-guided bombs. As the defense industry consolidated, TI sold its defense business to Raytheon in 1997.

Competitors

TI has always been among the Top 10 of the semiconductor sales leaders. In 2005, TI is number 3, after Intel and Samsung, but before Toshiba and STMicroelectronics.
For more informations, refer to the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year.

TI today

Today, TI is made up of two main divisions: Semiconductors (SC) and Educational & Productivity Solutions (E&PS). A third division, Sensors & Controls (S&C), was sold to Bain Capital LLC in 2006, and subsequently renamed Sensata.

Semiconductors

Semiconductor products account for approximately 85 percent of TI's revenues. TI has a market leading position in many different product areas, including digital signal processors in the TMS320 series, high speed digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, power management solutions, and high performance analog circuits. Wireless communications has been a primary focus for TI, with around 50 percent of all cellular phones sold world-wide containing TI chips. TI also manufactures other semiconductor products, ranging from application-specific integrated circuits to microcontrollers.

Wireless Terminal Business Unit

The Wireless Terminal Business Unit (WTBU) of the Semiconductor division is the world's largest supplier of wireless chipsets.

Application Specific Products

Another business unit of the Semiconductor division called Application Specific Products (ASP) develops specific products that cater to a broad range of DSP applications, such as digital still cameras, DSL modems, cable modems, Voice over IP (VOIP), streaming media, speech compression and recognition, wireless LAN and residential gateway products, and RFID.

DLP

TI is the sole source for digital light processing micro-mirror components, a technology used in video projectors and televisions.

Digital Signal Processors

TI makes a broad range of digital signal processors:

Texas Instruments TMS320
See main article on Texas Instruments TMS320
Others

TMS320C33, TMS320C3x,TMS320C4x, TMS320C5x and TMS320C8x - multiprocessor dsp.

Most of the older DSPs are still available through [TI's military dsp site]

Multi-core Processors

Educational & Productivity Solutions

Texas Instruments is also notable for its calculator range, the TI-30 being one of the most popular early calculators. TI has also developed a line of graphing calculators, the first being the TI-81, and most popular being the TI-83 Plus (with the TI-84 Plus being an updated equivalent). TI is often seen as the competitor to Hewlett-Packard in this regard, with fierce loyalties often arising.

TI calculator community

In the late 1990s, with the advent of TI's graphing calculator series, programming became popular among some students. The TI-8x series of calculators (beginning with the TI-81) came with a built-in BASIC interpreter, through which simple programs could be created. The TI-85 was the first TI calculator to allow assembly programming (via a shell called "ZShell"), and the TI-83 was the first in the series to receive native assembly. While the earlier BASIC programs were relatively simple applications or small games, the modern assembly-based programs rival what one might find on a Game Boy or PDA.

Around the same time that these programs were first being written, personal webpages were becoming popular (through services such as Angelfire and GeoCities), and programmers began creating websites to host their work, along with tutorials and other calculator-relevant information. This led to the formation of TI calculator webrings, and eventually a few large communities, including the now-defunct TI-Files, and active [ticalc.org]. Ticalc.org is now seen as the authoritative source for programming for TI calculators, and at the site, one can find thousands of applications (including games, educational programs, and even simple operating environments), programming tutorials, calculator news, and discussion forums, among other things.

TI graphing calculators generally fall into two distinct groups, those powered by the Zilog Z80 and those running on the Motorola 68000 series. Although a derivative of the Z80 was in the original Game Boy, the 68000 is far more powerful, and therefore better suited for gaming and processor intensive applications. The 68K calculators, which include the TI-89/Titanium, TI-92/Plus, and Voyage 200, are generally thought of more highly among TI community members than the Z80s. However, the newest of the Z80 series, the TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, are becoming very popular with students new to the product line.

Sensors & Controls

Texas Instruments was a major OEM of sensor, control, protection, and RFID products for the automotive, appliance, aircraft, and other industries. The S&C divsion was headquartered in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

TI announced on Monday, January 9, 2006 that Bain Capital LLC, a private equity firm, would purchase the Sensors and Controls division for $3.0 billion in cash. The RFID portion of the division remained part of TI, transferring to the Application Specific Products business unit of the Semiconductor division. The sale was completed in the first half of 2006, with the newly formed independent company taking on the name Sensata.

Corporate Governance

See also


Texas Instruments graphing calculators
Z80: TI-73x | TI-81 | TI-82 | TI-83x | TI-84x | TI-85 | TI-86
m68k: TI-89x | TI-92x and Voyage 200 | TI-Nspire™ CAS
Proprietary: TI-80

Footnotes

External links

 

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