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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">General Micro-electronics</span></span>
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<p><b>General Micro-electronics</b> (GMe) was an American <a href="Semiconductor" title="Semiconductor">semiconductor</a> company in the 1960s. It was formed by three former members of <a href="Fairchild_Semiconductor" title="Fairchild Semiconductor">Fairchild Semiconductor</a>, and is thus one of the "Fairchildren". It was acquired in 1966 by <a href="Philco-Ford" class="mw-redirect" title="Philco-Ford">Philco-Ford</a> and became their Microelectronics Division.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>With <a href="Frank_Wanlass" title="Frank Wanlass">Frank Wanlass</a> as director of research and engineering, GMe was the first company to design, fabricate, and sell <a href="MOSFET" title="MOSFET">MOS</a> <a href="Integrated_circuits" class="mw-redirect" title="Integrated circuits">integrated circuits</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-forging_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-forging-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The first MOS chips were <a href="Small-scale_integration" class="mw-redirect" title="Small-scale integration">small-scale integrated</a> chips for <a href="NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a> satellites.<sup id="cite_ref-forging_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-forging-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 1964, Wanlass demonstrated a single-chip 16-bit shift register he designed, with an incredible (for the time) 120 transistors on a single chip.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-forging_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-forging-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>That same year, the company entered an agreement to convert a <a href="Victor_Comptometer" class="mw-redirect" title="Victor Comptometer">Victor Comptometer</a> tube-based <a href="Electronic_calculator" class="mw-redirect" title="Electronic calculator">electronic calculator</a> to all-IC form, the <a href="Victor_3900" title="Victor 3900">Victor 3900</a>, with a planned introduction in early 1966. The task proved to be much more difficult than expected, and GMe was left almost insolvent. The company was purchased by <a href="Philco-Ford" class="mw-redirect" title="Philco-Ford">Philco-Ford</a>, at which time Victor gave up on the product. They remarketed the system as the Philco 3900, but by the time it was ready for market, a less-expensive alternative had appeared.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Several members of the GMe team would go on to found <a href="Electronic_Arrays" title="Electronic Arrays">Electronic Arrays</a> and produce a six-chip calculator system that was successful in the early 1970s.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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</style><cite id="CITEREFChristophe_Lécuyer2006" class="citation book cs1">Christophe Lécuyer (2006). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/makingsiliconval00chri"><i>Making Silicon Valley: innovation and the growth of high tech, 1930-1970</i></a></span>. MIT Press. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/makingsiliconval00chri/page/263">263</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-262-12281-8</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-forging-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-forging_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-forging_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-forging_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">
<cite id="CITEREFBob_Johnstone1999" class="citation book cs1">Bob Johnstone (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PE1bQS9VpWoC&pg=PA47"><i>We were burning: Japanese entrepreneurs and the forging of the electronic age</i></a>. Basic Books. pp. <span class="nowrap">47–</span>48. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-465-09118-8</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">
<cite id="CITEREFLee_Boysel2007" class="citation web cs1">Lee Boysel (2007-10-12). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121115072151/http://inst-tech.engin.umich.edu/leccap/view/ece-inv-lectures/1036">"Making Your First Million (and other tips for aspiring entrepreneurs)"</a>. <i>U. Mich. EECS Presentation / ECE Recordings</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://inst-tech.engin.umich.edu/leccap/view/ece-inv-lectures/1036">the original</a> on 2012-11-15.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBensene2020" class="citation web cs1">Bensene, Rick (28 February 2020). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/d-victor3900.html">"The Victor 3900 - History's Forgotten Miracle"</a>. <i>The Old Calculator Museum</i>.</cite></span>
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