Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory

Shockley Transistor Corporation

Formerly	Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
Company type	Public
Industry	Semiconductors
Founded	1955 (1955)
Founders	William Shockley
Defunct	1968
Fate	Acquired by Clevite
Headquarters	391 San Antonio Road, Mountain View, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Four-layer diode
Number of employees	9,000
Parent	Beckman Instruments (1955–1960)[1] Clevite (1960-1968) ITT (1968)

Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, later known as Shockley Transistor Corporation, was a pioneering semiconductor developer founded by William Shockley, and funded by Beckman Instruments, Inc., in 1955.^[2] It was the first high technology company, in what came to be known as Silicon Valley, to work on silicon-based semiconductor devices.

In 1957, the eight leading scientists resigned, and became the core of what would later become Fairchild Semiconductor. Shockley Semiconductor never recovered from this departure; - it was purchased by Clevite in 1960, - then sold to ITT in 1968, and - shortly after, officially closed. The building remained, but was repurposed as a retail store. By 2015 plans were made to demolish the site to develop a new building complex. By 2017, the site was redeveloped with new signage marking it as the "Real Birthplace of Silicon Valley."^[3]