Shockley called the young scientists the "traitorous eight" and said they would never be successful. The eight later left Fairchild and started companies of their own. Over a period of 20 years, 65 different companies were started by 1st or 2nd generation teams that traced their origins in Silicon Valley to Shockley Semiconductor. In 2014, Tech Crunch revisited Don Hoefler's 1971 article, claiming 92 public companies of 130 descendant listed firms were then worth over US$2.1 Trillion. They also claimed over 2,000 companies could be traced back to Fairchild's eight co-founders. Shockley never managed to make the four-layer diode a commercial success, in spite of eventually working out the technical details and entering production in the 1960s. The introduction of integrated circuits allowed the multiple transistors needed to produce a switch to be placed on a single "chip", thereby nullifying the parts-count advantage of Shockley's design. However, the company did have a number of other successful projects, including the first strong theoretical study of solar cells, developing the seminal Shockley–Queisser limit that places an upper limit of 30% efficiency on basic silicon solar cells. See also Thyristor – a concept first proposed by William Shockley References External links Interview with Adolf Goetzberger a Shockley alumnus hired after mass resignations from Shockley Semiconductor. Video about 391 San Antonio Road and the traitorous eight History of Silicon Valley Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States Fabless semiconductor companies Companies based in Silicon Valley Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Mountain View, California Computer-related introductions in 1956 American companies established in 1956 Electronics companies established in 1956 Manufacturing companies established in 1956 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1968 1956 establishments in California 1968 disestablishments in California Defunct manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area