International Rectifier Corporation (IR) is the oldest independent power semiconductor manufacturer in the world. IR's products, protected by hundreds of patents, control the direction and flow of electrical current, a necessity for manufacturers of myriad electronics products. IR's technologies also help to conserve power. The company develops, manufactures, and sells control integrated circuits, diodes, rectifiers, and its signature product, HEXFET power MOSFET switches. IR derives more than 60 percent of its annual sales from Europe and Asia. The company operates production facilities in Italy, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
An offshoot of the fast-growing aerospace industry in the Los Angeles area during the 1940s was the rise of attendant semiconductor manufacturers. IR was there from the start, founded on August 9, 1947, by Leon Lidow and his son Eric. Eric Lidow, who would control the company for the next half-century, was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. He attended the Technical University of Berlin, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering in 1937, the same year he immigrated to the United States. In 1940 he cofounded and served as general manager of Selenium Corporation of America, which was acquired by Sperry Corporation in 1944. Lidow stayed on after the acquisition, serving as vice-president of engineering until teaming up with his father to form IR. The Lidows created IR to put to use advanced processes they had developed for manufacturing selenium rectifiers, which converted alternating electrical current to direct electrical current. Their technology, formally employed on IR's August 9 founding date, was pioneering, predating the development of the transistor by more than four months.
IR started with six employees in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles, marking the beginning of the company's continuous efforts to produce devices with increasingly higher power ratings and superior reliability characteristics. The company's business revolved around controlling the flow and direction of electricity, an engineering feat of fundamental importance in the vast world of electronics, enabling appliances, automobiles, computers, and thousands of other devices, components, and systems to function. To switch and condition electricity, manufacturers relied on power semiconductors, using diodes, rectifiers, transistors, and other devices to make their products operate. IR, with its foundation resting on commercial semiconductor processes and devices based on selenium (a nonmetallic element), emerged as an early leader in the industry. At its start, the company manufactured rectifiers, diodes, and transistors for sale to domestic customers, but quickly demonstrated its talent for developing superior technology and its ambition to expand its presence outside the U.S. market.
From selenium, IR made the technological leap to germanium-based systems, introducing germanium rectifiers in November 1954. Three years later, the company's tenth anniversary was marked by the formation of International Rectifier Corp., Japan Ltd., representing the company's first foray into international expansion. In September 1958, Eric Lidow took IR public, completing an initial public offering of stock that preceded the establishment of the company's second foreign subsidiary, IR, Great Britain Ltd., in December 1958. One year later, Lidow drew the semiconductor industry's attention by besting his germanium rectifiers with the September 1959 introduction of the first silicon rectifier, which, facilitated by the company's previous international expansion, made IR the first company to introduce silicon technology to Japan.
An acknowledged force in the semiconductor industry, Lidow's company proceeded to accumulate an impressive list of technological achievements as it extended its global reach. In 1960, after introducing solar cells two years earlier, IR produced the world's first solar-powered automobile. One year later, the company commenced operations in Italy, followed by the establishment of subsidiaries in India in 1965, Canada in 1966, and Mexico in 1973.
Against the backdrop of IR's geographic expansion, the company's leading role in the technological development of power semiconductors produced disparate financial results. For IR, being the pioneer of widely used technology did not necessarily guarantee long-term financial success, which, as a publicly traded company, was an all-important objective. For instance, based in large part on the company's achievements as a pioneer in silicon control rectifiers, IR's stock swelled to $31 per share in 1966. By 1969, after the company's competitors had successfully jumped on the silicon bandwagon, IR's shares plummeted below $12. The company's technological achievements were exemplary, but, frustrating for Lidow, IR's financial reputation was not. Despite the dozens of pioneering patents held by the company, it began to falter by the 1970s, perceived by investors and industry observers as an organization suffering from stagnation. As the prospect of an industry pioneer withering on the vine began to emerge, the next generation of Lidows was exhibiting talents that soon would breathe new life into IR.