What are the ten best decisions ever made in the semiconductor industry's history? This is the stuff of which long evenings are made, but here, for what it's worth, is one list compiled after a long evening.
Bell Labs' decision to sell licenses for transistor manufacturing technology
Akio Morita's decision to buy a transistor manufacturing license from Bell Labs.
William Shockley's decision to hire Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore
Fairchild's decision to make ICs.
The decision to invest $3m in founding Intel
Intel's decision to make silicon gate MOS memory.
Taiwan's purchase of CMOS technology from RCA in 1976.
Chips and Technology's decision to clone IBM PC chip-sets.
The decisions by Altera and Xilinx to found the fabless semiconductor industry business model.
Philips' decision to co-found TSMC with the Taiwan government and kick-start the foundry industry.
