TI

"TI’s breakthrough in silicon transistors immediately redrew the map of the semiconductor market. Before that, TI was an obscure small company; after that, TI soared and dominated the semiconductor industry for more than twenty years. TI’s breakthrough also had a deeper meaning: it established a model for countless small technology companies thereafter—that it is possible for the small to take on the big, and that the small have a chance to succeed against the big."

"Of course, in earlier business history there were quite a few successful examples of “the small taking on the big,” but those successes were achieved only after long struggles, and most were cases where big companies made serious mistakes that gave small companies opportunities. TI’s large competitors, however, had not made serious mistakes, yet TI surpassed them in only a few short years. Why was this? Ultimately, the pace of technological progress clearly accelerated after World War II, and “technological inflection points” emerged one after another. When each “technological inflection point” appears, big companies are not necessarily stronger than small ones; small and big companies have almost equal opportunities. Over the past decades, cases of small companies outperforming big companies have become too numerous to count. The most famous example in the past ten-plus years is Microsoft beating IBM. But as far as I know, TI established the earliest model."

"About half of the funding for my section came from the company’s own funds, and the other half came from U.S. military contracts. At that time, the military urgently needed transistors and signed R&D contracts with many companies. To compete for these contracts, I often had opportunities to go to the Army Signal unit in New Jersey to discuss matters with the semiconductor technology procurement personnel there. One of them later became my colleague at TI. As I recall, at that time military contracts involved little bureaucratic red tape; the main point of management was the results. If the results met the specified requirements, the funds were paid in full; if the results did not meet specifications, part of the funding was withheld until they met the requirements."

"At the end of 1955, when I transferred to become section chief of the R&D department, silicon transistors had been on the market for more than a year, and TI almost monopolized the market. Even so, the cost of germanium was still lower than silicon, so most of the transistor market was still held by germanium. My responsibility was to develop germanium transistors of various frequencies and power levels."

"The new general manager immediately summoned “important personnel” one by one. I had never met him before, but I was also on the list of those summoned. Since joining Sylvania I had never been to the general manager’s office, yet now I had the chance to enter. It was an extremely spacious, luxuriously decorated office, far more lavish than the TI general manager’s office that I would later often enter, and it could even compare with the general manager’s offices of major companies in Taiwan today. The new general manager was very amiable and seemed sincere as well. While looking at a list on the desk, he said only a few short sentences: “I don’t know you, but as I understand it, your performance is good, so you are not among those to be laid off. However, the company needs to lay off about half the staff. Among the four engineers in your section, so-and-so and so-and-so are to be laid off; please inform them. Of course, the company will pay severance according to seniority. Your section will also be dissolved, and the remaining personnel will be merged into another section. Your salary and grade will not change, but from now on please contribute to the company as an individual engineer.” Even though he was amiable and sincere, every word of those sentences was unpleasant to hear. Our section—including me—was five young people; after two years of hard work, what we ended up with was two people being laid off. As for me? The new general manager seemed to think that not laying me off was already a great favor. But although I had not gone to other companies to look for work, I firmly believed that finding a job would not be a problem. I immediately protested on behalf of the two who were being laid off, but it was too late; he had already decided. The two who were laid off were both in their first jobs. Telling them this result was the hardest work of my life; both conversations ended in tears. In the end, the two of them said the same thing: “It seems enthusiasm and hard work still aren’t enough.” Youthful innocence disappeared within a single day, and that lost innocence could never be found again."