Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments, better known in the electronics industry as TI, is a company based in Dallas, Texas, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology.
It was founded by Cecil H. Green, Jon Erik Jonsson, Eugene McDermott and Henry Bates Peacock, three out of whom would live to see their ninetieth birthdays.
TI is a major manufacturer of transistors and integrated circuits. The integrated circuit was invented by Jack Kilby of TI in 1958. The 7400 series of transistor-transistor logic (TTL) chips, developed by TI in the 1960s, popularized the use of integrated circuits in computer logic, and is in widespread use to this day.
Texas Instruments is also notable for their calculator range, the TI-30 being one of the most popular early calculators. TI has also developed a line of graphing calculators, the first being the TI-80, and most popular being the TI-83. TI is often seen as the competitor to Hewlett Packard in this regard, with often fierce loyalties arising. See also TI-89 and TI-92.
During the 1980s, Texas Instruments introduced the Speak 'n' Spell, immortalized in the movie E.T. Several spinoffs, such as the Speak 'n' Read and Speak 'n' Math, were introduced soon thereafter.
