Applied Magnetics Corporation

Applied Magnetics Corporation

Company type	Public (until 2000)
Industry	Magnetic recording, Computer hardware
Founded	1957 (1957)
Founder	Harold Frank
Defunct	January 2000 (2000-01)
Fate	Filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000; reorganized as Innovative Micro Technology in 2001
Headquarters	Goleta , United States
Key people	Harold Frank (founder), Dr. John S. Foster (COO, later CEO of successor)
Products	Magnetic heads for magnetic tape and computer disk technologies
Number of employees	14,000 (1971)

Applied Magnetics Corporation (AMC), established in 1957 by Harold Frank in Goleta, California, was a prominent producer of magnetic heads for use in magnetic tape and computer disk technologies until the year 2000.

Founder

Harold Frank, who earned a degree in electrical engineering from Washington State University and served as a radio operator during World War II, applied his magnetic recording knowledge gained at Conoco to launch AMC from his residence. His entrepreneurial insight was instrumental in transforming AMC into a significant entity within the magnetic recording sector.

Company history

Initially operating as a solo venture, AMC experienced rapid growth after obtaining government contracts, notably a critical agreement with the US Air Force in 1961. By 1968, the company had expanded to 850 employees distributed among 17 divisions. AMC’s magnetic heads played a vital role in NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo 11, and Mariner programs, achieving recognition for compliance with rigorous aerospace quality standards.

In July 1971, AMC became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. At that time, it maintained manufacturing plants worldwide—including locations in Korea, Belgium, Portugal, Barbados, and Puerto Rico—and employed 14,000 personnel across 21 divisions spanning 12 countries. The firm broadened its portfolio through acquisitions into areas such as magnetic core memory and printed circuit boards and developed disk storage technologies tailored for smaller computing systems.

Although AMC held a strong market position and was the longest-standing independent US supplier of disk read-and-write heads, it encountered industry challenges during the late 1990s. Following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January 2000, the company reorganized and reemerged as Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) in 2001 with a focus on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Dr. John S. Foster, formerly AMC’s chief operating officer, assumed the role of IMT’s inaugural CEO.