Siliconix

The same year that Vishay is founded and opens for business in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Siliconix is founded and opens for business in Sunnyvale, California. The founders are Frances and Bill Hugle, research scientists at a Westinghouse semiconductor facility. The Electronic Engineering Company of California and the Baldwin Piano Company (one of the first companies to license Western Electric’s transistor technology) are the initial investors. The first products manufactured by Siliconix are junction field-effect transistors (JFETs), devices used to switch and sense analog signals.