Company Pedigree
| Ascendant Companies | Descendent Companies | ||
| Company | Comments | Company | Comments |
| Founded by Dr. David Bakalar in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 1952 to manufacture transistors. Dr. Bakalar led Transitron for 30 years. Transitron ceased operations in 1986. |
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Company Overview
By 1955 TI and Transitron were the leaders of the transistor industry with over 35% of the market. By 1961 Transitron was the number two American semiconductor company behind Texas Instruments with sales of over $40 million. As the 60’s rolled on silicon and planar technologies drastically changed the economics of the transistor industry. The company ultimately failed after not investing in the development of these new technologies. It had difficulty transitioning from Germanium to Silicon technology and subsequently integrated circuit technology. Transistron did manufacture IC’s and even developed a bipolar microprocessor. However, the company never recovered from expenditure of funds to develop the microprocessor.