Company: Ferranti Semiconductor Ltd., a division of Ferranti Ltd. Founder: Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti Founded: 1905 as Ferranti Ltd., Ferranti Semiconductor Ltd. acquired by Plessey Semiconductors in 1988. Based: Greater Manchester, United Kingdom Specialty: Early developer of first generation vacuum tube computers including the Mark I and Pegasus. Manufacturer of electronic devices, including vacuum tubes, germanium semiconductors, silicon diodes, and Integrated Circuits. First European company to sell silicon diodes starting in 1955. One of the first European IC manufacturers - supplied gate array chips used in 1980's era European home computers, including the Sinclair ZX81 & ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron and BBC Micro. |
Ferranti Integrated Circuit DIP Chip keychain (1970s)

Item # 1010
This keychain from Ferranti Microelectronics features one of their Integrated Circuit chips mounted on an unfinished, 14-lead, gold plated DIP package, all embedded in acrylic.
In the mid 1950's, Ferranti would become one of Europe's pioneering Semiconductor companies, producing silicon diodes.
In 1972, Ferranti introduced their single chip AM radio chip, called the ZN414.
In 1976, Ferranti introduced Europe's first 16-bit Microprocessor chip, the F100-L.
In 1977, Ferranti would purchase custom chip designer and manufacturer Interdesign.