Schreiner, Bob (Robert) oral history
In this oral history, Bob Schreiner recounts the founding, strategy, early success and eventual demise of Synertek. Bob left Fairchild Semiconductor in 1971 and founded Synertek with funding from four systems companies. His vision was to build custom chips for a variety of different applications. Although a significant part of their revenue eventually was from these custom chips, Synertek also became a major source for microprocessors (6502) and ROM chips for companies like Atari and Apple Computer. Realizing he would need a significant capital infusion to realize his ultimate goal, he eventually sold the company to Honeywell in about 1979. Although this was to be a “hands off” deal where Synertek would be able to continue to operate independently, the reality was quite different. The deal eventually soured and Shreiner left the company along with most of the other top talent.
Item Details
- Date
- 2013-06-10 (Made)
- Type
- Document
- Catalogue number
- 102746760
- Organization
- Computer History Museum (Publisher)
- People
- Robert (Bob) Schreiner (Interviewee)
Stephen L. Diamond (Interviewer)
Eric Dennis (Videographer) - Category
- Transcript
- Credit line
- Gift of Computer History Museum
- Extent
- 25 p.
- Place of publication
- North America/USA/CA/Mountain View
- Language
- English
- Acquisition number
- X6873.2013
- Subject
- Zilog, Inc., Honeywell, Fairchild Semiconductor, Semiconductor History, Atari, Jobs, Steve, Synertek
- Archive collection
- CHM Oral History Collection
- Archive hierarchy
- CHM Oral History Collection