THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS.

This article highlights the 10 most significant business developments in the electronics industry from 1975-2005. The 1981 debut of the IBM PC gave the electronics industry the platform to grow on. Perhaps most importantly, the IBM PC architecture fueled billions of dollars of demand, kick-starting the young industry. From the beginning of the semiconductor electronics industry, U.S.-based chip makers dominated the world business. That changed in the early 1980s, when dedicated efforts by Japanese chip makers bore fruit. By 1982 Japanese companies had captured 33 percent of the world semiconductor market. That percentage grew steadily, largely at the expense of U.S. manufacturers and peaked in 1988.