Fairchild Semiconductor was founded in 1957 to build transistors out of silicon rather than the more common germanium. It also pioneered the planar process, making transistors easier to produce, at a lower cost, and with higher performance and reliability. This planar process led Fairchild to develop the first commercially viable integrated circuit in 1960. In 2016, onsemi acquired Fairchild to become a top semiconductor manufacturer. It is now widely believed that the semiconductor power of the United States began with the establishment of Fairchild Semiconductor, which was once the largest and most innovative semiconductor manufacturer in the world, laying a very solid foundation for the development of Silicon Valley. To some extent, Intel and AMD can be regarded as companies nurtured by Fairchild. Overseas, Japan's NEC Corporation obtained Fairchild's planar silicon process patent license and shared it with other Japanese manufacturers. As a result, NEC, Mitsubishi, and Kyoto Electric began to enter the semiconductor industry.