Ferranti: Electronics
part of Ferranti
1923 Ferranti introduced its first electronics product - audio frequency transformers
1924 Started production of radio components and moving coil loudspeakers
1930 The Electronics Department was set up to manufacture electronic components, which at that time were being manufactured by the Instrument Department.
post-WWII Valve production was expanded to supply other companies as well as Ferranti.
1955 Ferranti was already producing germanium semiconductors when it became the first European company to produce a silicon diode.
1976 Ferranti Semiconductor Ltd. produced a range of silicon bipolar devices including, in 1977, the F100-L, an early 8-bit single chip microprocessor with 16-bit addressing. An F100-L was carried into space on the amateur radio satellite UoSAT-1 (Oscar 9). Ferranti's ZTX series bipolar transistors gave their name to the inheritor of Ferranti Semiconductor's discrete semiconductor business, Zetex plc.
1984 As part of the reorganisation of the company, Electronics was one of the 5 divisions created. The division was concerned with semiconductor products and also with technical services, ceramic seals, microwave products and systems. Semiconductor products included both discrete components and integrated circuits.