BrookTree Sailboat

Brooktree Sailboat

BrookTree is a division of the semiconductor giant, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, specializing in video, graphics, and communications integrated circuitry. The photomicrograph above illustrates the standard BrookTree logo and sailboat icon that appear on every chip we have examined that has been manufactured by this company. Jim Bixby, the founder of BrookTree (who would then go on to sell the company to Rockwell), informs us that the sailboat icon was decided upon in the earliest days of the company by the two chip layout designers. This was done without consulting the management. The designers speculated the company would become very large one day, with many design centers, and that each should have a distinctive logo on its chips. They picked a sailboat for San Diego.


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