At Bell Labs

Noyce left Philco in 1955 to join a team of scientists that William Shockley had gathered to work at his new venture in his former home state of California. Shockley, who would later win the Nobel Prize for his role in the discovery of the transistor, had left Bell Labs in 1954 to pursue his own theories about the transistor, establishing Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in Palo Alto.

Shockley’s reputation enabled him to hire a corps of talented scientists; however, his rigid adherence to germanium-based technology when the rest of the industry was shifting to silicon frustrated his recruits, who also began to realize that while Shockley’s reputation would most likely continue to build, they were not necessarily guaranteed the same recognition or success. After several years a group of the more ambitious scientists, frustrated over their deteriorating relationship with Shockley, left the company to pursue semiconductor research using their own theories. Although Noyce was tempted to join the "traitors," as Shockley referred to them, he elected to stay behind for the time being³.

The seven former Shockley employees drew up a business plan for their new company and approached East Coast investors, finding a sympathetic ear in the investment firm of Hayden Stone, which was involved with a company called Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Quite by chance, Fairchild’s president, eager to enter the new solid-state transistor world, had asked for assistance from the investment company at the same time the Shockley defectors arrived with their business plan. Fairchild quickly showed interest, but withheld a final commitment until the group could find a leader with strong management skills to oversee their work and act as a spokesman for the fledgling company.

Noyce, with his easy leadership style and effortless way of taking charge, coupled with his experience in transistor and semiconductor research, was the obvious choice. By this time, he had reached the same conclusion as his former co-workers, and was more than eager to join them. With financing now secured, Fairchild Semiconductor was born in Mountain View, just a few miles away from Palo Alto in Santa Clara County. What happened next would transform the sleepy orchards and misty valleys of the area into today’s Silicon Valley.

Founding Fairchild Semiconductor

Fairchild began in business by making silicon transistors, which at the time had to be wired together by hand after they were produced. It was a cumbersome, laborious process, and it soon became clear to Fairchild’s founders that the commercial success of their venture rested on the development of a better production method. During the startup phase at Fairchild Semiconductor there had been no sense of bosses and employees. There had been only a common sense of struggle out on a frontier. Everyone had internalized the goals of the venture⁴. They didn't need orders from superiors. Besides, everyone had been so young! Noyce, the administrator or chief coordinator or whatever he should be called, had been just about the oldest person on the premises, and he had been barely 30. And now, in the early 1960s, thanks to his athletic build and his dark brown hair, he still looked very young.

As Fairchild expanded, Noyce didn't even bother trying to find "experienced management personnel." Out here in California, in the semiconductor industry, they didn't exist. Instead, he recruited engineers right out of colleges and graduate schools and gave them major responsibilities. There was no "staff," no "top management" other than the eight partners themselves.

Noyce held weekly meetings of people from all parts of the operation, and whatever had to be worked out was worked out right there in the room. Noyce wanted them all to keep internalizing the company's goals and to provide their own motivations, just as they had during the start-up phase. If they did that, they would have the capacity to make their own decisions.

The young engineers who came to work for Fairchild could scarcely believe how much responsibility was suddenly thrust upon them. Some 24-year-old just out of graduate school would find himself in charge of a major project with no one looking over his shoulder. A problem would come up, and he couldn't stand it, and he would go to Noyce and ask him what to do. And Noyce would lower his head, turn on his 100-ampere eyes, listen, and say: "Look, here are your guidelines. You've got to consider A, you've got to consider B, and you've got to consider C." Then he would turn on the Gary Cooper smile: "But if you think I'm going to make your decision for you, you're mistaken."