How Sony Mastered the Transistor

Last month’s AiSalon was quite fun. I had a good time moderating the panel, discussing the current AI market trend as well as things to come. We are doing another one on November 19th at Appier’s office in Taipei, featuring Jeffrey Abbott, GP at Blitzscaling Ventures. It would be fun to see you guys there.

At the end of World War II, Japan was at zero.

Then Godzilla came and made it Minus One.

In the wake of this ruin, an extraordinary company was founded. And through a series of fortuitous events, they came across an extraordinary technology.

The discovery of the first transistor set off a race around the world to produce and use it. What can it be used for? How do we manufacture it?

Amidst this race, this scrappy company - led by an extraordinary pair of founders - defied the odds and used the transistor to make a breakthrough radio.

In this video, we look at how Sony mastered the transistor.

Beginnings

I know the Acquired podcast did an episode on Sony's beginnings already. They did a great job, but stick around for this one.

Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka first met in 1944. They had been assigned to a team to produce a heat-seeking missile - the Ke-Go - and save the country from a losing war.

Ibuka was then 37 years old. Taller and heavier, he wore thick glasses and spoke with a working class accent. He was the chief engineer of a company supplying vacuum tube-based voltmeters and radar frequency control devices for the military.

Morita was then 24 years old. Shorter, but thin and with an aristocratic side profile. He was then serving as a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy, a naval liaison officer.

Working on this missile project, the two men spent a great deal of time together. The project failed, but the two became friends.

When the Allies started bombing Tokyo, Ibuka relocated the company to an apple orchard in Nagano. After the war ended, Ibuka brought his seven engineers back to Tokyo and set up a little lab in a room on the third floor of the Shirokiya Department Store.

Return to Tokyo

Times were hard back then. The first autumn, they took rucksacks to the countryside to get rice and potatoes.

Ibuka - who long considered his greatest asset to be his team and worked hard to keep ...