1925 Shure Inc.
Shure Brothers was originally a one-man operation that sold radio parts kits. It changed its name to Shure Inc. in 2000 and currently manufactures microphones and audio electronics.
1928 Allied Electronics
Allied Radio was established as the radio parts distribution arm of Columbia Radio Corp. In 1962, the first industrial catalog for Allied Electronics, a subsidiary of Allied Radio, was released and it continues today as an electronics distributor.
1928 Motorola Inc.
Founded as Galvin Manufacturing Corp. in 1928, the company's first product was a battery eliminator, allowing consumers to operate radios directly from household current instead of the batteries supplied with early models. In the 1930s, the company successfully commercialized car radios under the brand name "Motorola," a word suggesting sound in motion. It changed its name to Motorola in 1947 and currently provides communications and semiconductor products.
1930 Omron Corp.
What began as Tateisi Electric Manufacturing Co. became known as Omron Tateisi Electronics Co. in 1948, and subsequently Omron Corp. It offers a variety of components, including relays, sensors, and switches.
1930 Texas Instruments Inc.
It started in 1930 as Geophysical Service, an oil-exploration company, then changed its name to Texas Instruments in 1951. TI provides DSP, analog technologies, and sensors and controls for signal processing systems.
1932 Littelfuse Inc.
Littelfuse has been designing and manufacturing circuit-protection products since its inception.
1933 Rhode and Schwarz
Its first product in 1932 was a measuring instrument: a precision frequency meter for wavelengths of 6 to 3600 meters. The company now manufactures products in the fields of test and measurement, information technology, and radiocommunications.
1934 Newark Electronics
The company began as Newark Electric Co. and changed to Newark Electronics in 1960. It pioneered electronic parts distribution and is still in that business.
1935 Fujitsu Ltd.
The business was at first the communications division of Fuji Electric Co. Ltd., which manufactured telephones. It was officially named Fujitsu Ltd. in 1967. Now the company offers products for information technology and communications, including semiconductor technology, optical networks, and high-end servers.
1935 Illinois Capacitor Inc.
A designer and manufacturer of electrolytic and film capacitors.
1936 American Phenolic Corp. (Amphenol)
Manufacturer of electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, coaxial and flat-ribbon cable, and interconnect systems, it's still making the products originally designed in 1935.
1938 Molex Inc.
It started as Molex Products Co. and currently manufactures electronic, electrical, and fiber-optic interconnection products and systems. It also makes various switches and application tooling.
1939 Hewlett-Packard Co. (Agilent Technologies)
The company was founded in 1939 in a garage as Hewlett-Packard, a manufacturer of test and measurement products. It started with $538 in working capital, which consisted of cash and a used Sears-Roebuck drill press. HP's first product was an audio oscillator used to test sound equipment. It spun off test, measurement, and components products operations as a new company, Agilent Technologies, in 1999.
1942 Ericsson Microelectronics
Founded as Rifa with the mission to manufacture resistors and capacitors for the Swedish radio industry during World War II, the company later became known as Ericsson in 1947 and adopted the name Ericsson Microelectronics in 2000. It's a supplier of microelectronic devices including discrete semiconductors, ICs, and value-added subassemblies used in telecommunication applications.
1943 Grayhill Inc.
The company's original mission was to manufacture miniature precision components for the electronics industry. It designs and manufactures switches, keyboards, keypads, I/O modules, control systems, and wireless products.
1943 R.L. Drake Co.
The company began as a manufacturer of low-pass and high-pass filters for the government and amateur radio market. After World War II, the company applied its engineering expertise to the consumer market and started producing ham radio transmitters and receivers. Today it's a manufacturer of electronic communications equipment for cable television systems, assistive listening, video signal distribution, short-wave radio, and digital television reception.
1944 Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Since its inception, Murata has manufactured a range of electronic components that exploit the unique electrical properties of ceramic materials, such as capacitors, thermistors, and EMI filters.
1946 Coilcraft Inc.
Founded as a custom coil maker for the television set manufacturers clustered around the Chicago area, Coilcraft now produces inductors for telecommunications, computers, instrumentation, and consumer electronics.
1946 Keithley Instruments Inc.
The company has always manufactured electronic test and measurement and data-acquisition solutions for engineers and scientists.
1946 Kepco Inc.
Four brothers developed a board and overlays for different circuit experiments designed to teach vacuum tube circuits to college-level students. They also designed and built a power supply to run the experiments. Customers liked the experiments but also wanted to buy the power supply, so the company started designing and manufacturing regulated dc power supplies and associated electronic equipment.
1946 Sony Corp.
The company began as Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute and adopted Sony as its corporate name in 1958 after using it as a product brand for three years. It manufactures semiconductor, computer, and consumer electronic products.
1946 Switchcraft Inc.
Created as a company to manufacture jacks, plugs, and switches, Switchcraft manufactures components that include jacks, connectors, power cords, switches, and molded cable assemblies.
1946 Tektronix Inc.
From the start, Tektronix has designed and manufactured test and measurement equipment. Although it provides a broad range of instruments, the company has always been a leader in oscilloscope technology. Today, Tektronix's market share of the scope industry is more than two times larger than any competitor.
1947 Bourns Inc.
Bourns started in the family garage. The company's first product was a miniature, linear motion and vane position potentiometer, used to give airplane pilots an idea of whether they were ascending or descending. Today's product line includes trimming potentiometers, fuses, resistor networks, sensors, and controls.
1947 International Rectifier
Founded to manufacture Selenium rectifiers, International Rectifier designs and manufactures power conversion devices, including power MOSFETs, diodes, and linear regulators today.
1948 Fluke Corp.
Fluke has been manufacturing electronic test tools and software for over 50 years. Its first product was a highly accurate benchtop power meter. In 1969, Fluke developed the digital voltmeter. But the company may be best known for bringing laboratory accuracy to rugged portable and handheld equipment.
1948 Lambda Electronics Inc.
The company designs and manufactures standard switching and linear electronic power supplies.
1949 McIntosh Labs
McIntosh is one of the last surviving U.S. audio equipment manufacturers from the Golden Years of Hi-Fi.
1950 Nichicon Corp.
Nichicon has always designed and manufactured capacitor products.
1951 Kulicke and Soffa
Founded as an engineering company building specialty machinery, it developed the industry's first wirebonder. Today the company supplies wirebonding and other packaging assembly equipment for the entire semiconductor industry.
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