Fairchild worked hard in the early years following the integrated circuit’s introduction to overcome customers’ objections to the device. To give customers some sense of control, the company (as well as others, such as Motorola) permitted buyers essentially to custom design the circuits using methods very similar to what had been standard operating procedure for discrete components. To counter concern about reliability, Fairchild stepped up its in-house testing methods and advertised the strenuous conditions under which the integrated circuits had already been proven to perform. The company
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