In 1959 Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments each invented the integrated circuit, etching a transistor onto a two- dimensional chip of silicon.

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Infinera's optical routing gear is built around an all-in-one optical networking chip--which it calls a Photonic Integrated Circuit--that shrinks down the work done by a hodgepodge of parts in boxes from other vendors onto a pair of chips smaller than a fingernail.

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The investment will allow the base to make the latest system-on-chip designs in which various technologies are integrated onto the same circuit, helping minimise manufacturing costs.

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If you wanted to do only one task and do it the same way every time, you would do better with a custom chip design -- what the engineers call an application specific integrated circuit.

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Gurus focused most of their selling fury on technology stocks, starting off in the chip sector by cashing out of semiconductor equipment company Applied Materials and integrated circuit maker Linear Technology.

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