Manufacturer profile
About Fairchild Semiconductor
Reviewed 2026-07-26
Fairchild Semiconductor is a historical semiconductor manufacturer and product lineage now held by onsemi. The catalog contains component data sheets rather than manuals for one narrow instrument family, covering bipolar transistors, FETs, diodes, optocouplers, operational amplifiers, comparators, and power-control integrated circuits.
History
The Fairchild semiconductor operation began in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument and became a foundational producer of silicon transistors and integrated circuits. Schlumberger acquired Fairchild Camera and Instrument in 1979, National Semiconductor acquired the semiconductor business in 1987, and Fairchild returned to independent public-company status in 1997. The later legal name Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. belongs to that reorganized corporation, while 1957 describes the broader Fairchild lineage.
Fairchild moved its headquarters from San Jose to Sunnyvale on April 10, 2016; that date marks the start of the Sunnyvale headquarters, not its end. ON Semiconductor completed its acquisition of Fairchild in September 2016 and later adopted the onsemi name. Fairchild is therefore presented here as a defunct standalone company and acquired legacy brand, with onsemi as the current product-line owner and source of continuing component lineage.
Equipment specialties
- Discrete transistors and MOSFETs
- Diodes and Zener diodes
- Operational amplifiers and comparators
- Optocouplers
- Power-management and controller integrated circuits
Sources
- Company History — Fairchild Semiconductor — onsemi (accessed 2026-07-26)
- Fairchild Semiconductor — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-07-26)