Texas instruments incorporated

Founded 1930, Geophysical Service; 1951, Texas Instruments. Provider of consulting and engineering services; manufacturer of computer components; electronic components; laboratory equipment; semiconductors.

Organized in 1930 as Geophysical Service, the company was formed to provide oil exploration services using the reflection seismograph. This technology used sound waves to look deep into the earth to search for oil deposits. By decade’s end, the company’s seismic crews were engaged by the world’s largest oil companies in virtually every major oil field.

Through reorganization, the oil exploration unit became a subsidiary named Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI). In 1941, the GSI subsidiary was sold to Eugene McDermott (cofounder of Geophysical Service) and key employees J. Erik Jonsson, Cecil H. Green, and H. Bates Peacock. In 1951, the company name was changed to Texas Instruments Incorporated, and in 1953, TI obtained its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The history of Texas Instruments is a history of meeting challenges: where the company has seen a customer need or an application where the power of technology could provide a positive solution, innovative technologies have been applied. For more than seven decades, Texas Instruments has been pioneering the technologies, systems, and products that are shaping our world.

Early developments include submarine-detection equipment (1941), the first commercial production of silicon transistors (1954), side-looking radar (1955), the integrated circuit (IC) (1958), thermal printing (1965), the electronic hand-held calculator (1967), thermocompression wire-bonding for IC assembly (1969), laser-guidance systems for missiles (1969), and the computer-on-a-chip (1971).

More recent developments include three-dimensional (3D) seismic data processing technology (1975), speech synthesis chips (1978), digital signal processors (1982), quantum-effect ICs that operate at room temperature (1993), and Digital Light Processing™ (DLP™) (1995).

The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with sales or manufacturing operations in more than 25 countries worldwide. Current businesses include semiconductors and technology. More information about TI is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com in the History of Innovation section.