Faraday Electronics

Faraday Electronics Corporation

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware, Semiconductor
Founded	1982 in Palo Alto, California, United States
Founder	Jack Watts, Joseph Sullivan, Robert Todd
Defunct	1987
Fate	Acquired by Western Digital
Headquarters	Sunnyvale, California , United States
Products	IBM PC–compatible motherboards, chipsets
Parent	Western Digital (from 1987)

Faraday Electronics Corporation operated as a private American computer firm from 1982 until 1987. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, it was a pioneer in offering an IBM Personal Computer-compatible motherboard to external customers and developed its own IBM PC–compatible chipsets. Faraday’s motherboards were extensively utilized in early 1980s IBM PC clone machines, mainly catering to business users. The company was purchased by Western Digital in 1987 and continued functioning as a subsidiary for several subsequent years.

History

Established in 1982 in Palo Alto, California by Jack Watts, Joseph Sullivan, and Robert Todd—the proprietors of Portola Corporation—Faraday initially appointed Watts as CEO. Watts brought experience from Hewlett-Packard’s manufacturing division and previously served as VP at International Video Corporation.

In March 1983, Faraday introduced the FE6400 (Model 64), an IBM PC–compatible motherboard equipped with an Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz, 64 KB of RAM, and five ISA expansion slots. This product was notable as the first standalone clone motherboard marketed directly to third-party buyers rather than bundled within complete systems. The FE6400 was designed internally while its production was outsourced to Flextronics, resulting in rapid revenue growth—from $100,000 in 1983 to $3 million by late 1984.

October 1983 saw a leadership change when John Lemons, formerly president of Teledyne Semiconductor, succeeded Watts as CEO; Watts retained a position on the board. Under Lemons’ direction, Faraday launched the FE6410 in May 1984, which incorporated integrated serial and parallel ports along with disk controllers but featured fewer expansion slots. Shortly after, in June, the FE620 debuted with eight expansion slots and integrated controllers comparable to those found on the IBM PC XT. In November 1984, the company raised $6 million from investors including Bank of America to enhance research and development efforts.

In January 1985, Faraday unveiled the Bus PC—a single-board IBM PC implemented on a full-length ISA card with built-in ports capable of supporting up to 256 KB of memory. This was followed in March by the Micro PC, a half-height ISA card that introduced Faraday’s first VLSI chipset, the FE2010, which consolidated essential IBM PC components into a single chip set. This development marked the first application of VLSI chipset technology within a PC-compatible single-board computer.

Faraday’s only acquisition occurred in February 1985 with the purchase of Selenar Corporation, a Santa Clara-based manufacturer of graphical terminals; Selenar became a subsidiary and was relocated near Faraday’s Sunnyvale headquarters. That same month, Faraday released the A-Tease motherboard compatible with IBM’s Personal Computer AT architecture, featuring an Intel 80286 CPU alongside integrated parallel and serial ports. By the end of 1985, Faraday had achieved $12 million in sales and reported profitability.

By late 1986, revenues had expanded to $20 million as Faraday increasingly concentrated on chipset design for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Early in 1987, the company launched a four-chip VLSI implementation replicating the core circuitry of the IBM PC AT to rival Chips and Technologies’ five-chip CS8220 chipset. During this period, Faraday repositioned itself away from commodity PC motherboard production toward supplying chipsets for industrial process control applications.

In April 1987, Western Digital announced its intention to acquire Faraday through a stock exchange agreement; this transaction was finalized in July 1987 for $42 million.