 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Founder | Dennis Farrey |
| Headquarters | Belmont, California |
| Website | www |
Jameco Electronics is an American electronic component and tool distributor. It was founded in 1974 by Dennis Farrey in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, California [1] and is currently headquartered in Belmont, California, where it also operates a brick and mortar store.
Jameco is family owned, with James Farrey, the son of founder and first CEO Dennis Farrey becoming the company's second CEO in 2010. He had worked within the company since 1983, and in 2009 was named COO. [2]
A smaller operation relative to its competitors in the industry, the company nonetheless enjoys significant popularity in the electronic hobbyist community and in 2011 they launched Club Jameco, a program in which hobbyists can create kits, and, if they are popular, sell them to other hobbyists. If a kit is chosen for a production run by the company, the creator can earn a small royalty on its sales.
In 2015, the company conducted a study among its customers, dubbed 'The Great American Electronics Hobbyist Census'. The study reported on the growth of the electronic hobbyist community, attributed by participants to the growing affordability and availability of electronic components online. The study also found that half of those interviewed had no professional experience with the industry. It also observed a proportion of only 2% female respondents identifying as hobbyists, even though 19% of engineering students are female. [3]
Heathkit is the brand name of kits and other electronic products produced and marketed by the Heath Company. The products over the decades have included electronic test equipment, high fidelity home audio equipment, television receivers, amateur radio equipment, robots, electronic ignition conversion modules for early model cars with point style ignitions, and the influential Heath H-8, H-89, and H-11 hobbyist computers, which were sold in kit form for assembly by the purchaser.
Dick Smith Holdings Limited was an Australian chain of retail stores that sold consumer electronics goods, hobbyist electronic components, and electronic project kits. The chain expanded successfully into New Zealand and unsuccessfully into several other countries. The company was founded in Sydney in 1968 by Dick Smith and owned by him and his wife until they sold 60% to Woolworths Limited in 1980, the remaining 40% two years later. The company closed in 2016, four years after its acquisition by Anchorage Capital Partners.
Futaba Corporation is a Japanese company founded in 1948, originally to produce vacuum tubes. As time passed, production and elemental techniques of the vacuum tube transformed into the manufacturing of vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), tool and die set components, radio control equipment and OLED displays.
Premier Farnell Ltd is a British distributor of products for electronic system design, maintenance and repair throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with operations in 36 countries and trading in over 100. In October 2016, the firm was purchased by Avnet in a deal valued at approximately £691 million.
Allied Electronics is a distributor of electronic components and electromechanical products based in United States Allied is a subsidiary of Electrocomponents plc. It is an ISO 9001:2008+AS9120A certified company with about 43 sales offices serving the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Parallax Inc. is a privately held company in Rocklin, California. Parallax Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells BASIC Stamp microcontrollers, Propeller microcontrollers, microcontroller accessories, educational robot kits, and educational curriculum.
Digi-Key is the fourth largest electronic component distributor in North America and a broad-line distributor of board level components. It ranks as the fifth largest electronic component distributor in the world. Founded in 1972 by Ronald Stordahl, its name is a reference to the "Digi-Keyer Kit", a digital electronic keyer kit that he developed and marketed to amateur radio enthusiasts. He continues to privately own the company.
Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, named after Charles Avnet, who founded the company in 1921. After its start on Manhattan's Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961. On May 8, 2018 Avnet changed stock markets to Nasdaq, trading under the same ticker, $AVT.
Arrow Electronics is an American Fortune 500 company headquartered in Centennial, Colorado. The company specializes in distribution and value added services relating to electronic components and computer products. The company ranked No. 109 in the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Maplin Electronics is an online retailer of electronic goods in the United Kingdom and Ireland, based on the assets of the former company Maplin Electronic Supplies, which operated from 1972 to 2018. Prior to 2018, the original Maplin company operated an extensive online, telephone and mail order service. In June 2017, there were 217 Maplin stores.
TTI, Inc. is a specialty distributor of electronic components that include, but are not limited to: capacitors, resistors, connectors, switches, relays, circuit protection, electromagnetics, discrete semiconductors, sensors, RF modules, antennas, and more.
Mouser Electronics is an online distributor of electronic components based in Mansfield, Texas, United States.
Altium Limited is an American, Australian-domiciled owned public software company that provides PC-based electronics design software for engineers who design printed circuit boards. Founded as Protel Systems Pty Ltd in Tasmania, Australia in 1985, Altium now has regional headquarters in the United States, Australia, China, Europe, and Japan, with resellers in all other major markets.
Newark element14, sometimes called Newark Electronics, Newark Corporation or Newark, is a Chicago-based electronic components distribution company serving North America and parts of Central and South America. Founded in 1934 as Newark Electric, a small Chicago shop selling radio parts, the company is now a subsidiary of catalog distributor Premier Farnell and is the sixth largest electronics distributor worldwide.
RS Components is a global trading brand of Electrocomponents plc. The company supplies electronic components; electrical, automation and control, and test and measurement equipment; and engineering tools, and consumables via e-commerce, catalogues, and trade counters.
Bourns, Inc. is an American electronics company that develops, manufactures and supplies electronic components for a variety of industries including automotive, industrial, instrumentation, medical electronics, consumer equipment and portable electronics.
Limor Fried is an American electrical engineer and owner of the electronics hobbyist company Adafruit Industries. She is influential in the open-source hardware community, having participated in the first Open Source Hardware Summit and the drafting of the Open Source Hardware definition, and is known for her moniker ladyada, a homage to Lady Ada Lovelace.
Adafruit Industries is an open-source hardware company based in New York City. It was founded by Limor Fried in 2005. The company designs, manufactures and sells a number of electronics products, electronics components, tools and accessories. It also produces a number of learning resources, including live and recorded videos related to electronics, technology, and programming.
Farnell element14 is a distributor of products for electronic system design, maintenance and repair. Operating in 28 countries across Europe, with two regional distribution hubs in Belgium and the UK, it employs circa 1,200 people. It is the European trading brand of global electronics distributor Premier Farnell.
Supreme Components International Pte. Ltd. (SCI) Is a franchised distributor of high-tech electronic and LED components headquartered in Singapore. The company specializes in global distribution and value-added services pertaining to these components.