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News Archive - Autonetics Forms new Microelectronics Division
Electronics Magazine
April 14, 1969
Hot on the heels of signining a $30-million contract to develop an LSI calculator chipset for Hayakawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Sharp), the Autonetics division of North American Rockwell has announced the formation of a new division specifically focused on the development, design, and sale of Large Scale Integration (LSI) devices for commercial applications. The creation of the Microelectronics Products Division consolidates a number of different functions within Autonetics, including Autonetics' development of integrated circuits for the military and national security sectors of the US Government. Autonetics had already been working on the project for Sharp for some time before this restructuring occurred, and is not exected to create any delays in the project, and if anything, would help streamline the development process of the complex calculator chipset by removing interdepartmental barriers.
The four-chip LSI chipset, along with a fifth custom bipolar clock generator IC debuted in Sharp's revolutionary "Micro-Compet" QT-8D December of 1969 after some delays caused by production problems with the ICs.