|
DALLAS (May 16, 2005) -- Among many major milestones in the history of
Texas Instruments (TI), the company passed another one on May 16th by
marking its 75th anniversary. Yet even as the company paused to commemorate
its past, the people of TI continue to deliver technology innovations
that have a profound and positive effect on people around the world.
“A common characteristic among the people of Texas Instruments is
an impatient eagerness to buck the odds and do something different,”
said TI chairman Tom Engibous. “TIers just don’t seem to know
what cannot be done. So, this company has consistently achieved what others
thought was impossible.”
Revolutionary developments from TI include the use of a new technology
to explore for oil worldwide during the Great Depression, the world’s
first commercial silicon transistors in 1954 and the invention of the
integrated circuit in 1958. More recently, TI has become the acknowledged
leader in real-time signal processing, which is the primary enabling technology
behind communications and electronics products such as cell phones, HDTVs,
portable media players, high-speed networking, digital cameras and other
advances in digital technology.
TI is the world’s leading supplier of both DSP and analog semiconductors,
the principal technologies for real-time signal processing. More than
half of all cell phones shipped worldwide rely on TI’s wireless
solutions. The company is also the world’s top supplier for DSL
modems, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions and mobile wireless
LAN products.
Among
recent innovations:
- TI announced
the world’s first single-chip cell phone in early 2005. This breakthrough
product, which is already making calls in customer laboratories, will
help make basic cell phones so affordable that hundreds of millions
of people around the world could experience telecommunications for the
first time in their lives.
- The company’s
OMAP™ 2 processors, unveiled in 2004, will bring a vast array
of multimedia features to advanced cell phones, including DVD-quality
video, Hi-Fi audio, broadcast digital TV, three-dimensional gaming and
more.
- TI began
shipping the world’s first 1 Gigahertz DSP in 2004. This product
can process billions of operations per second. It is so fast that medical
researchers are using it to develop systems that will allow blind people
to see. Other developers are using it to create vehicles that safely
navigate and drive themselves with no human intervention.
- The company’s
DLP Cinema™ technology for theaters can recreate 35 trillion different
colors with extreme clarity, thus providing a truly immersive experience
for movie-goers. Digital Light Processing™ technology can also
be experienced in 75 models of rear projection HDTVs.
“While
our core business has been real-time signal processing with digital signal
processors, or DSPs, and analog semiconductors, we’re still actively
innovating in the calculator market and other areas as well,” said
TI president and CEO Rich Templeton.
“TI’s graphing calculators have become an educational rite-of-passage
for students,” Templeton said. “Also, we’re the world’s
largest integrated manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID)
transponders and reader systems, which are used in an ever-increasing
range of applications from inventory tracking and authentication to temperature
sensing and condition monitoring.”
History
of Innovation
From its roots in 1930 as a pioneer in developing signal processing technology
to search for hidden reservoirs of oil, TI has consistently been a company
of firsts.
TI was the first company to commercialize silicon transistors, a breakthrough
that accelerated the industry’s shift from vacuum tubes to solid
state devices. In 1958, TI’s Jack Kilby invented the integrated
circuit, which opened the door for the exploration of space and ultimately
launched the modern electronics industry as it is known today.
Reaching into the consumer market, TI transformed math and science education
by inventing the handheld electronic calculator in 1967. In 1978, TI took
another revolutionary step with the introduction of the first single-chip
speech synthesizer; first product (Speak & Spell™) incorporating
low-cost speech synthesis technology.
Realizing the need to provide close support to its customers, TI was the
first semiconductor company to think and operate globally by setting up
operations in the United Kingdom in 1956. TI was the first foreign semiconductor
company to operate in Japan and was the first foreign technology company
in India. TI now has manufacturing, design or sales operations in 25 different
nations.
As amazing as the past has been, the people of TI are reaching for an
even more incredible future. “TI’s objective is to take the
fantastic visions of technology’s potential, and go beyond the limits,”
Engibous said. “We’re not just making dreams possible. We’re
making them practical. We’ve been doing that for 75 years, and we
have no intention of stopping now.”
#
# #
Texas Instruments
Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our
customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition
to Semiconductor, the company’s businesses include Sensors &
Controls and Education Technology. TI is headquartered
in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in
more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at www.ti.com.
To view a history of TI innovations, visit www.ti.com/75years.
OMAP, Digital Light Processing, DLP Cinema and Speak & Spell are all
registered trademarks of Texas Instruments.
Back to Top |
Samples & Purchase Cart
