Power Integrations spent its first five years making chips that worked but did not sell. From 1988 through 1993 the Sunnyvale, California company built products for many markets, and none was cheap enough to beat the loose parts engineers already used. Then it narrowed its aim. Its TOPSwitch chips put a power controller, a MOSFET switch and other parts on one piece of silicon. By its December 1997 IPO, they were selling into phone chargers and PCs.

One Chip Instead of Many

The company was incorporated in California in March 1988, with Steven J. Sharp among its founders. It designed high-voltage analog chips for AC to DC power conversion, the job done by the adapter between a wall socket and a device. Early products had strong technology and weak sales. The fix was a focus on cost. Power Integrations also signed partnerships with Matsushita Electronics and OKI Electric to reach high-volume manufacturing and earn royalties.

Still Switching on Nasdaq

Power Integrations priced its IPO at $8 a share in December 1997 and listed on Nasdaq as POWI. It sold 2.1 million shares. Revenue had grown from $7.1 million in 1994 to $23.9 million in 1996, led by the TOPSwitch family. The company later moved its headquarters to San Jose. Nearly three decades after its IPO, Power Integrations is still independent and still trades on Nasdaq as POWI.

Cover: Women Inside a Mosquito Net During a Thunderstorm, Kitagawa Utamaro. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a thunderstorm (electric power).