Signetics was the first company in the world to be established for the exclusive purpose of developing, manufacturing, and distributing integrated circuits (ICs).
By the mid-1970s, Signetics had become a broad-based supplier of its major IC product lines and went public for a short while, from 1973 to 1975. In June 1975 the company was purchased by Philips Semiconductors (now NXP), a wholly owned subsidiary of N.V. Philips of the Netherlands. Philips Semiconductors then extended its base in Silicon Valley by acquiring VLSI Technologies, an ASIC semiconductor company, in 1999.
Philips used the Signetics brand name until 1992. In 1995, Philips spun off the assembly and test operation in Korea, which was started by Signetics in 1966, as an independent subcontract service provider. They continue to use the name Signetics. Signetics Korea operates as a semiconductor assembly and test specialty company in South Korea and internationally. It offers laminate and flip chip package products for various applications in communication, consumption, and computer markets; and lead frame package products for logic, analog, and RF applications, as well as for controllers and drivers. The company is headquartered in Paju, South Korea.
