Amperex Electronic Corporation
founded in 1920s
Amperex was was founded in the 1920s as a manufacturer of transmitting tubes with a factory in Brooklyn, New York. A new factory was built in Hicksville, New York in 1953.
North American Philips Company, the American arm of the Dutch firm, Phillips, acquired Amperex around 1955 and made the Hicksville factory its headquarters. North American Philips Company also used the Amerpex name to distribute miniature tubes made in The Netherlands.
The Hicksville factory was closed in 1989. North American Philips opened a new facility in Slatersville, Rhode Island in 1959, and it was operated by its subsidiary, Amperex Electronic Corporation. Amperex supplied IBM with god-doped germanium logic diodes and silicon diodes.
In 1960 Philips invented an imaging tube called the Plumbicon for use in television cameras. Its popularity led to the building of another Amperex plant in Slatersville.
In 1973, Amperex Electronics Corporation acquired Advanced Micro Electronics.