#4 Fairchild Semiconductor

Founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing.

After Intel introduced the 8008 8-bit microprocessor, Fairchild developed the Fairchild F8 8-bit microprocessor, which had an unusual architecture and was not a great market success.

In 1976, the company released the first video game system to use ROM cartridges, the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (or VES) later renamed Channel F, using the F8 microprocessor. The system was successful initially, but quickly lost popularity when the Atari 2600 Video Computer System (or VCS) was released.

By the end of the 1970s they had few new products in the pipeline, and it was being operated at a loss.

In 1979, Fairchild Camera and Instrument was purchased by Schlumberger Limited, an oil field services company, for $425 million.

The technologies invented by Fairchild have since grown to power everything from desktop computers to handheld cameras.

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