Whatever happened to second-sourcing?

[jms_embedded]

I'm a relative youngster here (grew up playing computer games on my C64 in the mid-'80s) and was surprised to learn a few things recently about second-sourcing:

1. that it wasn't just Company B trying to clone Company A's parts (common in analog for simple components like NE555, LM358, LM393, TL431, LM4040, etc. and for standard logic like the 74xx series), but rather that Company A actually sought out and granted licenses to Company B to second-source their parts, to reassure their customers of availability.

2. this seems to have been relatively common in the 1970s and 1980s: MOS Technology found second-sourcing partners for its 6502 in Synertek and Rockwell; Xilinx allowed MMI to second-source its FPGAs (and then AMD bought MMI); Motorola licensed the 68000 to a number of other companies.

When and why did this disappear?

 

[hist78]

I'm a relative youngster here (grew up playing computer games on my C64 in the mid-'80s) and was surprised to learn a few things recently about second-sourcing:

1. that it wasn't just Company B trying to clone Company A's parts (common in analog for simple components like NE555, LM358, LM393,AT TL431, LM4040, etc. and for standard logic like the 74xx series), but rather that Company A actually sought out and granted licenses to Company B to second-source their parts, to reassure their customers of availability.

2. this seems to have been relatively common in the 1970s and 1980s: MOS Technology found second-sourcing partners for its 6502 in Synertek and Rockwell; Xilinx allowed MMI to second-source its FPGAs (and then AMD bought MMI); Motorola licensed the 68000 to a number of other companies.

When and why did this disappear?

Isn't that amazing?

Although what you pointed out is a different situation, It reminds me about the early days of transistors. In fear of US government antitrust sanctions, AT&T went on to license their transistor invention to many companies. Eventually it led to the explosive growth of semiconductor industry today.

Why AT&T Invented and Shared the Transistor that Started the Digital Revolution : Anthony J. Pennings, PhD

apennings.com

 

[tooLongInEDA]

Certainly in the 1980s component second sourcing was a requirement on defence projects - resistors, capacitors, ICs. Most components where available for at least one supplier. Some - like high performance ADCs were not. Military was a significant IC market in those late Cold War days and military designs used and drove leading edge ICs. Mass usage of PCs, laptops and mobile phones has changed all that.

Intel notably broke the pattern by ceasing second sourcing on the 80386.

 

[jms_embedded]

Military was a significant IC market in those late Cold War days and military designs used and drove leading edge ICs.

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that.