Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

corporation that was founded in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. Philips was formerly one of the largest electronics companies in the world, but is currently focused on the area of

health technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

, having divested its other divisions. The company was founded in 1891 by

Gerard Philips Gerard Leonard Frederik Philips (9 October 1858 – 26 January 1942) was a Dutch industrialist and co-founder, with his father Frederik Philips, of Philips as a family business in 1891. In 1912, Gerard and his younger brother Anton Philips conv ...

and his father Frederik, with their first products being

light bulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

s. It currently employs around 80,000 people across 100 countries. The company gained its royal honorary title (hence the ''Koninklijke'') in 1998 and dropped the "Electronics" in its name in 2013, due to its refocusing from consumer electronics to healthcare technology. Philips is organized into three main divisions: Personal Health (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Connected Care, and Diagnosis & Treatment (formerly Philips Medical Systems). The lighting division was spun off as a separate company, Signify N.V. The company started making electric shavers in 1939 under the

Philishave Philishave is the brand name for electric shavers, their spare parts and accessories manufactured by the Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care unit of Philips (in the U.S., the Norelco name is used instead). In recent years, Philips had e ...

and

Norelco Norelco is the American brand name for electric shavers and other personal care products made by the Consumer Lifestyle division of Philips. For personal care products marketed outside the United States, Philips used the Philishave trademark unti ...

brands, and post-war they developed the

Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

format and co-developed the

Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

format with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, as well as numerous other technologies. As of 2012, Philips was the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world as measured by applicable revenues. Philips has a primary listing on the

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The reg ...

stock exchange and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

. It has a secondary listing on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

. Acquisitions include that of

Signetics Signetics Corporation was an American electronics manufacturer specifically established to make integrated circuits. Founded in 1961, they went on to develop a number of early microprocessors and support chips, as well as the widely used 555 time ...

and

Magnavox Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics company that since 1974 has been a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics corporation Philips. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham and ...

. It also founded a multidisciplinary sports club called

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

in 1913.

History

The Philips Company was founded in 1891, by

Dutch-Jewish The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the ...

entrepreneur

and his father Frederik Philips. Frederik, a banker based in

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

, financed the purchase and setup of an empty factory building in Eindhoven, where the company started the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products in 1892. This first factory has since been adapted and is used as a museum. Philipsfabriekje

In 1895, after a difficult first few years and near-bankruptcy, the Philipses brought in

Anton Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...

, Gerard's younger brother by sixteen years. Though he had earned a degree in engineering, Anton started work as a sales representative; soon, however, he began to contribute many important business ideas. With Anton's arrival, the family business began to expand rapidly, resulting in the founding of Philips Metaalgloeilampfabriek N.V. (Philips Metal Filament Lamp Factory Ltd.) in Eindhoven in 1908, followed in 1912, by the foundation of Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N.V. (Philips Lightbulb Factories Ltd.). After Gerard and Anton Philips changed their family business by founding the Philips

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

, they laid the foundations for the later multinational. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as

vacuum tubes A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as a ...

Radio

On 11 March 1927, Philips went on the air, inaugurating the shortwave radio station

PCJJ PCJJ (later known as PCJ) was a pioneering shortwave radio station in the Netherlands operated by Philips Radio on behalf of Philips Laboratories, a division of Philips Electronics. It was the first shortwave radio station in Europe, and the fir ...

(later PCJ) which was joined in 1929 by a sister station (Philips Omroep Holland-Indië, later PHI). PHOHI broadcast in Dutch to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(now

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

), and later PHI broadcast in English and other languages to the Eastern hemisphere, while PCJJ broadcast in English, Spanish and German to the rest of the world. The international program Sundays commenced in 1928, with host Eddie Startz hosting the '' Happy Station'' show, which became the world's longest-running shortwave program. Broadcasts from the Netherlands were interrupted by the German invasion in May 1940. The Germans commandeered the transmitters in

Huizen Huizen () is a municipality and a village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. The name "Huizen" is Dutch for "houses" and this usage has been linked to the belief that the first stone houses, instead of the more common sod houses a ...

to use for pro- Nazi broadcasts, some originating from Germany, others concerts from Dutch broadcasters under German control. Philips 930

In the early 1930s, Philips introduced the "Chapel", a radio with a built-in loudspeaker. Philips Radio was absorbed shortly after

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

when its two shortwave stations were nationalised in 1947 and renamed

Radio Netherlands Worldwide Radio Netherlands (RNW; nl, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services i ...

, the Dutch International Service. Some PCJ programs, such as '' Happy Station'', continued on the new station.

Stirling engine

Philips was instrumental in the revival of the

Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') between different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. More specif ...

when, in the early 1930s, the management decided that offering a low-power portable generator would assist in expanding sales of its radios into parts of the world where mains electricity was unavailable and the supply of batteries uncertain. Engineers at the company's research lab carried out a systematic comparison of various power sources and determined that the almost forgotten Stirling engine would be most suitable, citing its quiet operation (both audibly and in terms of radio interference) and ability to run on a variety of heat sources (common lamp oil – "cheap and available everywhere" – was favoured). They were also aware that, unlike steam and internal combustion engines, virtually no serious development work had been carried out on the Stirling engine for many years and asserted that modern materials and know-how should enable great improvements. Encouraged by their first experimental engine, which produced 16 W of shaft power from a bore and stroke of , various development models were produced in a program which continued throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. By the late 1940s, the 'Type 10' was ready to be handed over to Philips's subsidiary Johan de Witt in Dordrecht to be produced and incorporated into a generator set as originally planned. The result, rated at 180/200 W electrical output from a bore and stroke of , was designated MP1002CA (known as the "Bungalow set"). Production of an initial batch of 250 began in 1951, but it became clear that they could not be made at a competitive price, besides the advent of transistor radios with their much lower power requirements meant that the original rationale for the set was disappearing. Approximately 150 of these sets were eventually produced. In parallel with the generator set, Philips developed experimental Stirling engines for a wide variety of applications and continued to work in the field until the late 1970s, though the only commercial success was the 'reversed Stirling engine'

cryocooler A refrigerator designed to reach cryogenic temperatures (below ) is often called a cryocooler. The term is most often used for smaller systems, typically table-top size, with input powers less than about 20 kW. Some can have input powers as l ...

. However, they filed a large number of patents and amassed a wealth of information, which they later licensed to other companies.

Shavers

The first Philips shaver was introduced in 1939, and was simply called

. In the US, it was called

. The Philishave has remained part of the Philips product line-up until the present.

World War II

On 9 May 1940, the Philips directors learned that the German

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

was to take place the following day. Having prepared for this,

Anton Philips Anton Frederik Philips (14 March 1874 – 7 October 1951) co-founded Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. His father and Gerard had founded the Philips Company in 1891 as a f ...

and his son-in-law

Frans Otten Pieter Franciscus Sylvester "Frans" Otten (31 December 1895 in Berlin – 4 January 1969 in Valkenswaard) was a Dutch business executive, who served as the CEO of the international electronics firm Philips from 1939 to 1961. He was the son-in-law ...

, as well as other Philips family members, fled to the United States, taking a large amount of the company capital with them. Operating from the US as the North American Philips Company, they managed to run the company throughout the war. At the same time, the company was moved (on paper) to the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

to keep it out of German hands. On 6 December 1942, the British

No. 2 Group RAF No. 2 Group is a group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was reactivated in 2000, and is today part of Air Comm ...

undertook

Operation Oyster Operation Oyster was a bombing raid made by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on 6 December 1942 upon the Philips works at Eindhoven, Netherlands. The Philips company was a major producer of electronics equipment, including vacuum tubes for radio communi ...

, which heavily damaged the Philips Radio factory in Eindhoven with few casualties among the Dutch workers and civilians. The Philips works in Eindhoven was bombed again by the RAF on 30 March 1943.

Frits Philips Frederik Jacques "Frits" Philips (16 April 1905 – 5 December 2005) was the fourth chairman of the board of directors of the Dutch electronics company Philips, which his uncle and father founded. For his actions in saving 382 Jews during the Naz ...

, the son of Anton, was the only Philips family member to stay in the Netherlands. He saved the lives of 382 Jews by convincing the Nazis that they were indispensable for the production process at Philips. In 1943, he was held at the internment camp for political prisoners at Vught for several months because a strike at his factory reduced production. For his actions in saving the hundreds of Jews, he was recognized by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

in 1995 as a "

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

1945–1999

After the war, the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in

In 1949, the company began selling

television set A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...

s. In 1950, it formed

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

, which eventually formed part of

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

in 1962. Philips introduced the

audio tape format in 1963, and it was wildly successful. Cassettes were initially used for

dictation machines A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark of the company of the same ...

for office typing stenographers and professional journalists. As their sound quality improved, cassettes would also be used to record sound and became the second mass media alongside

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...

used to sell recorded music. PHILIPS D6350

Philips introduced the first combination

portable radio In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. The ...

and cassette recorder, which was marketed as the "radio recorder", and is now better known as the

boom box A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through ...

. Later, the cassette was used in telephone

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), was used for a ...

s, including a special form of cassette where the tape was wound on an endless loop. The C-cassette was used as the first

mass storage device In computing, mass storage refers to the storage of large amounts of data in a persisting and machine-readable fashion. In general, the term is used as large in relation to contemporaneous hard disk drives, but it has been used large in relati ...

for early personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s. Philips reduced the cassette size for professional needs with the

Mini-Cassette The Mini-Cassette, often written minicassette, is a magnetic tape audio cassette format introduced by Philips in 1967. It is used primarily in dictation machines and was also employed as a data storage for the Philips P2000 home computer. As of ...

, although it would not be as successful as the

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...

Microcassette The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium, introduced by Olympus in 1969. It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using t ...

. This became the predominant dictation medium up to the advent of fully

digital dictation A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark of the company of the same n ...

machines. Philips continued with computers through the early 1990s (see separate article:

Philips Computers Philips Telecommunicatie en Informatie Systemen (Philips Computers) was a subsidiary of Philips that designed and manufactured personal computers. Philips Computers was active from 1963 through 1992. Before that, Philips produced three computers b ...

). In 1972, Philips launched the world's first home

video cassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...

, in the UK, the N1500. Its relatively bulky video cassettes could record 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Later one-hour tapes were also offered. As the competition came from

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

and the VHS group of manufacturers, Philips introduced the N1700 system which allowed double-length recording. For the first time, a 2-hour movie could fit onto one video cassette. In 1977, the company unveiled a special promotional film for this system in the UK, featuring comedy writer and presenter

Denis Norden Denis Mostyn Norden (6 February 1922 – 19 September 2018) was an English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during the Second World War. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the ...

. The concept was quickly copied by the Japanese makers, whose tapes were significantly cheaper. Philips made one last attempt at a new standard for video recorders with the

Video 2000 Video 2000 (also known as V2000, with the tape standard Video Compact Cassette, or VCC) is a consumer videocassette system and analogue recording standard developed by Philips and Grundig to compete with JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax video techn ...

system, with tapes that could be used on both sides and had 8 hours of total recording time. As Philips only sold its systems on the PAL standard and in Europe, and the Japanese makers sold globally, the scale advantages of the Japanese proved insurmountable and Philips withdrew the V2000 system and joined the VHS Coalition. Philips CD-100

Philips had developed a

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

early on for selling movies, but delayed its commercial launch for fear of cannibalizing its video recorder sales. Later Philips joined with MCA to launch the first commercial LaserDisc standard and players. In 1982, Philips teamed with Sony to launch the

; this format evolved into the

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

CD-RW CD-RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format introduced in 1997. A CD-RW compact disc (CD-RWs) can be written, read, erased, and re-written. CD-RWs, as opposed to CDs, require ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and later

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

, which Philips launched with Sony in 1997 and 2006 respectively. schouhamerimmink

In 1984, the Dutch Philips Group bought out nearly a one-third share and took over the management of the German company

Grundig Grundig (; ) is a German consumer electronics manufacturer owned by the Turkish Arçelik A.Ş., the white goods (major appliance) manufacturer of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding. The company made domestic appliances and personal-care produ ...

. In 1984, Philips split off its activities on the field of

photolithographic In integrated circuit manufacturing, photolithography or optical lithography is a general term used for techniques that use light to produce minutely patterned thin films of suitable materials over a substrate, such as a silicon wafer, to protect ...

integrated circuit production equipment, the so-called wafer steppers, into a joint venture with

ASM International ASM International is a Dutch headquartered multinational corporation that specializes in design, manufacturing, sales and service of semiconductor wafer processing equipment for the fabrication of semiconductor devices. ASM's products are use ...

, located in

Veldhoven Veldhoven () is a municipality and town on the Gender in the southern Netherlands, just southwest of Eindhoven. Topography Dutch topographic map of Veldhoven (town), Dec. 2013 Population centres The modern town of Veldhoven is an agglomerat ...

under the name ASML. Over the years, this new company has evolved into the world's leading manufacturer of chip production machines at the expense of competitors like

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

and

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

. Philips partnered with Sony again later to develop a new "interactive" disc format called

CD-i The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, data storage format that was mostly developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips. It was created as an extension of Compact Disc Di ...

, described by them as a "new way of interacting with a television set". Philips created the majority of CD-i compatible players. After low sales, Philips repositioned the format as a

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...

, but it was soon discontinued after being heavily criticized amongst the gaming community. In the 1980s, Philips's

profit margin Profit margin is a measure of profitability. It is calculated by finding the profit as a percentage of the revenue. \text = = There are 3 types of profit margins: gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. * Gross Prof ...

dropped below 1 percent, and in 1990 the company lost more than US$2 billion (biggest corporate loss in Dutch history). Troubles for the company continued into the 1990s as its status as a leading electronics company was swiftly lost. In 1985, Philips was the largest founding investor in

TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC; also called Taiwan Semiconductor) is a Taiwanese multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the world's most valuable semicon ...

which was established as a joint venture between Philips, the Taiwan government and other private investors. In 1991, the company's name was changed from N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken to Philips Electronics N.V. At the same time, North American Philips was formally dissolved, and a new corporate division was formed in the US with the name Philips Electronics North America Corp. In 1997, the company officers decided to move the headquarters from Eindhoven to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

along with the corporate name change to

Koninklijk or (, Dutch for 'royal') is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organisations in the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium, by the monarchs of each country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, then Ki ...

e Philips Electronics N.V., the latter of which was finalized on 16 March 1998. In 1998, looking to spur innovation, Philips created an Emerging Businesses group for its Semiconductors unit, based in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

. The group was designed to be an incubator where promising technologies and products could be developed.

2000s

The move of the headquarters to Amsterdam was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the

Rembrandt Tower Rembrandt Tower ( nl, Rembrandttoren, ) is an office skyscraper in Amsterdam. It has a height of 135 metres, 36 floors and it has a spire which extends its height to 150 metres. It was constructed from 1991 to 1994. The building's foundation requ ...

. In 2002, it moved again, this time to the Breitner Tower. Philips Lighting,

Philips Research The Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (English translation: ''Philips Physics Laboratory'') or NatLab was the Dutch section of the Philips research department, which did research for the product divisions of that company. Originally located in the ...

Philips Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

(spun off as NXP in September 2006), and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in both

Best, Netherlands Best () is a municipality and a village in the southern Netherlands. It is situated northwest of the city Eindhoven, and is also part of the agglomeration of this city. The headquarters of Europe's largest meat processor Vion NV are located in Be ...

(near Eindhoven) and

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, United States (near Boston). In 2000, Philips bought Optiva Corporation, the maker of

Sonicare Sonicare is the brand name of an electric toothbrush produced by Philips. Product and technology The brush head vibrates at hundreds of times per second, with the latest models at 31,000 strokes per minute or 62,000 movements per minute (517 ...

electric toothbrush An electric toothbrush is a toothbrush that makes rapid automatic bristle motions, either back-and-forth oscillation or rotation-oscillation (where the brush head alternates clockwise and counterclockwise rotation), in order to clean teeth. Motio ...

es. The company was renamed Philips Oral Healthcare and made a subsidiary of Philips DAP. In 2001, Philips acquired Agilent Technologies' Healthcare Solutions Group (HSG) for EUR 2 billion. Philips created a computer monitors joint venture with LG called

LG.Philips Displays LG.Philips Displays was a joint venture created in 2001 by LG Electronics of South Korea and Philips Electronics of the Netherlands in response to the maturing CRT market. It primarily manufactured CRTs used in traditional television sets. It wa ...

in 2001. In 2001, after growing the unit's Emerging Businesses group to nearly $1 billion in revenue,

Scott A. McGregor Scott A. McGregor (born 1956) is an American technology executive and philanthropist. He was the lead developer of Windows 1.0 (the first release of Microsoft Windows), he was the CEO of Philips Semiconductors from 2001to2004, and was the CEO ...

was named the new president and CEO of Philips Semiconductors. McGregor's appointment completed the company's shift to having dedicated CEOs for all five of the company's product divisions, which would in turn leave the Board of Management to concentrate on issues confronting the Philips Group as a whole. In February 2001 Philips sold its remaining interest in battery manufacturing to its then partner Matsushita (which itself became

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

in 2008).

In 2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favour of a new one: "Sense and Simplicity". In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to sell or demerge its semiconductor division. On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new company formed by the division would be

NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

. On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in NXP Semiconductors to a consortium of

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR),

Silver Lake Partners Silver Lake is an American global private equity firm focused on investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries. Founded in 1999, the firm is one of the largest technology investors in the world. Its investment holdings have ...

and

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a Dutch private equity asset manager with over $47 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2017. The firm invests on behalf of a broad range of institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South ...

. On 21 August 2006,

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

and

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...

announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the acquiring consortium, a process which was completed on 1 October 2006. In 2006, Philips bought out the company Lifeline Systems headquartered in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...

, in a deal valued at $750 million, its biggest move yet to expand its consumer-health business (M). In August 2007, Philips acquired the company Ximis, Inc. headquartered in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, for their Medical Informatics Division. In October 2007, it purchased a Moore Microprocessor Patent (MPP) Portfolio license from The TPL Group. On 21 December 2007, Philips and

Respironics, Inc. Respironics is an American medical supply company owned by Philips that specializes in products that improve respiratory functions. It is based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Murrysville in Pennsylvania, United States. History In 1976, company fo ...

announced a definitive agreement pursuant to which Philips acquired all of the outstanding shares of Respironics for US$66 per share, or a total purchase price of approximately €3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) in cash. On 21 February 2008, Philips completed the acquisition of VISICU in Baltimore, Maryland, through the merger of its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary into VISICU. As a result of that merger, VISICU has become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Philips. VISICU was the creator of the eICU concept of the use of Telemedicine from a centralized facility to monitor and care for ICU patients. The Philips physics laboratory was scaled down in the early 21st century, as the company ceased trying to be innovative in consumer electronics through

fundamental research Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied resear ...

2010s

Philips made several acquisitions during 2011, announcing on 5 January 2011 that it had acquired Optimum Lighting, a manufacturer of LED based luminaires. In January 2011, Philips agreed to acquire the assets of Preethi, a leading India-based kitchen appliances company. On 27 June 2011, Philips acquired Sectra Mamea AB, the mammography division of

Sectra AB Sectra AB is a Swedish company founded in 1978 active within medical technology and encrypted communication systems. Notable products include the communication system RAKEL which is used by Swedish organisations and institutions that provide v ...

. Because net profit slumped 85 percent in Q3 2011, Philips announced a cut of 4,500 jobs to match part of an €800 million ($1.1 billion) cost-cutting scheme to boost profits and meet its financial target. In 2011, the company posted a loss of €1.3 billion, but earned a net profit in Q1 and Q2 2012, however the management wanted €1.1 billion cost-cutting which was an increase from €800 million and may cut another 2,200 jobs until end of 2014. In March 2012, Philips announced its intention to sell, or demerge its television manufacturing operations to

TPV Technology TPV Technology Limited (informally TPV, ) is a Fortune China 500 multinational electronics manufacturing company headquartered in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, and incorporated in Bermuda. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of computer monitors w ...

. Following two decades in decline, Philips went through a major restructuring, shifting its focus from electronics to healthcare. Particularly from 2011 when a new CEO was appointed, Frans van Houten. The new health and medical strategy have helped Philips to thrive again in the 2010s. On 5 December 2012, the antitrust regulators of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

fined Philips and several other major companies for fixing prices of TV

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictur ...

s in two cartels lasting nearly a decade. On 29 January 2013, it was announced that Philips had agreed to sell its audio and video operations to the Japan-based Funai Electric for €150 million, with the audio business planned to transfer to Funai in the latter half of 2013, and the video business in 2017. As part of the transaction, Funai was to pay a regular licensing fee to Philips for the use of the Philips brand. The purchase agreement was terminated by Philips in October because of breach of contract and the consumer electronics operations remain under Philips. Philips said it would seek damages for breach of contract in the

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

200-million sale. In April 2016, the

International Court of Arbitration ICC International Court of Arbitration is an institution for the resolution of international commercial disputes. It operates under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce and consists of more than 100 arbitrators from roughly 90 cou ...

ruled in favour of Philips, awarding compensation of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

135 million in the process. In April 2013, Philips announced a collaboration with

Paradox Engineering Paradox Engineering SA is a Swiss technology company that designs and markets solutions and services enabling smart cities and Industry 4.0 applications. The company's mission is to offer technologies to unlock the value of data. Its solutions are ...

for the realization and implementation of a "pilot project" on network-connected street-lighting management solutions. This project was endorsed by the

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is a public agency of the City and County of San Francisco that provides water, wastewater, and electric power services to the city and an additional 1.9 million customers within three San Franc ...

(SFPUC). In 2013, Philips removed the word "Electronics" from its name – becoming Royal Philips N.V. On 13 November 2013, Philips unveiled its new brand line "Innovation and You" and a new design of its shield mark. The new brand positioning is cited by Philips to signify company's evolution and emphasize that innovation is only meaningful if it is based on an understanding of people's needs and desires. On 28 April 2014, Philips agreed to sell their Woox Innovations subsidiary (consumer electronics) to Gibson Brands for $US135 million. On 23 September 2014, Philips announced a plan to split the company into two, separating the lighting business from the healthcare and consumer lifestyle divisions. It moved to complete this in March 2015 to an investment group for $3.3 billion. In February 2015, Philips acquired Volcano Corporation to strengthen its position in non-invasive surgery and imaging. In June 2016, Philips spun off its lighting division to focus on the healthcare division. In June 2017, Philips announced it would acquire US-based Spectranetics Corp, a manufacturer of devices to treat heart disease, for €1.9 billion (£1.68 billion) expanding its current image-guided therapy business. In May 2016, Philips' lighting division Philips Lighting went through a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

process, and became an independent

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

named Philips Lighting N.V. In 2017, Philips launched Philips Ventures, with a health technology venture fund as its main focus. Philips Ventures invested in companies including Mytonomy (2017) and DEARhealth (2019). In 2018, the independent Philips Lighting N.V. was renamed Signify N.V. However, it continues to produce and market Philips-branded products such as

Philips Hue Philips Hue is a line of color-changing LED lamps and white bulbs which can be controlled wirelessly. The Philips Hue line of bulbs was the first smart bulb of its kind on the market. The lamps are currently created and manufactured by Signify ...

color-changing LED light bulbs.

2020s

In 2022, Philips announced that

Frans Van Houten François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of Philips, Royal Philips Electronics (known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded Gerard Kleisterlee. B ...

, who had served as CEO for 12 years will be stepping down and is to be replaced by Philips's EVP and Chief Business Leader of Connected Care, Roy Jakobs, effective October 15, 2022.

Corporate affairs

CEOs

Past and present CEOs: * 1891–1922:

* 1922–1939:

* 1939–1961:

* 1961–1971:

* 1971–1977: * 1977–1981: Nico Rodenburg * 1981–1982:

Cor Dillen Cor or COR may refer to: People * Cor people, an ethnic group of Vietnam * Cor (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jon Cor (born 1984), a Canadian actor Places * Cor, Templeport, a townland in County Cavan, Ireland * Calif ...

* 1982–1986:

Wisse Dekker Wisse Dekker (26 April 1924 – 25 August 2012) was a Dutch businessman. He was the CEO of Philips from 1982 to 1986. From 1988 until 1992 he was chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, a ...

* 1986–1990: Cor van der Klugt * 1990–1996: Jan Timmer * 1996–2001:

Cor Boonstra Cor Boonstra (Leeuwarden, 7 January 1938) is mainly known as president of the Board of Directors of Philips (1996–2001). Biography At the age of 16, he quit his study at the Hogere burgerschool and started to work for Unilever. In 1974 he st ...

* 2001–2011: Gerard Kleisterlee * 2011–2022:

Frans van Houten François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of Philips, Royal Philips Electronics (known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded Gerard Kleisterlee. B ...

* 2022–present:

Roy Jakobs Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

CEOs lighting: *2003–2008: Theo van Deursen *2012–present: Eric Rondolat

CFOs

Past and present CFOs (chief financial officer) * 1960–1968:

* –1997:

Dudley Eustace Dudley Eustace is a British businessman, having many executive functions in Dutch companies. He is well known for his restructuring work being finance director of Philips and Ahold. Eustace is currently the Chairman of Aegon and VNU, now called ...

* 1997–2005: Jan Hommen * 2015–present: Abhijit Bhattacharya

Current Executive Committee

*CEO:

*CFO: Abhijit Bhattacharya *COO: Willem Appelo & Sophie Bechu *Chief ESG & Legal Officer: Marnix van Ginneken *Chief Business Leader (Connected Care): Roy Jakobs *Chief Business Leader (Personal Health): Deeptha Khanna *Chief Business Leader (Image Guided Therapy): Bert van Meurs *Chief Business Leader (Precision Diagnosis): Kees Wesdorp *CEO Philips Domestic Appliances: Henk Siebren de Jong *Chief of International Markets: Edwin Paalvast *Chief Medical, Innovation & Strategy Officer: Shez Partovi *Chief Market Leader (China): Andy Ho *Chief Market Leader (North America): Vitor Rocha *Chief Human Resources Officer: Daniela Seabrook

Acquisitions

Companies acquired by Philips through the years include

ADAC Laboratories ADAC Laboratories was a Silicon Valley medical device company specialising in nuclear medicine gamma camera manufacturing and associated nuclear medicine processing computers and software. It was originally located at 10300 Bubb Road, Cup ...

Agilent Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American life sciences company that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Its global headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California. Agilent was establi ...

Healthcare Solutions Group,

Amperex Amperex Electronic Corporation was a manufacturer of vacuum tubes and semiconductors.Knight (2007) Brooklyn, New York Originally located at 79 Washington Street in Brooklyn, New York, Amperex was a long-established manufacturer of transmitting t ...

, ATL Ultrasound,

EKCO EKCO (from Eric Kirkham Cole Limited) was a British electronics company producing radio and television sets from 1924 until 1960. Expanding into plastic production for its own use, Ekco Plastics produced both radio cases and later domestic plasti ...

, Lifeline Systems,

, Marconi Medical Systems, Philips Medical purchased Intermagnetics based out of Latham, New York for 1.3 billion in 2006,

Optiva Optiva Inc. (formerly Redknee Solutions, Inc.) is a Canadian provider of Business support system and Operations Support Systems software and services to the telecommunications industry. History Optiva was founded in 1999 as Redknee Solutions by t ...

, Preethi, Pye,

, Sectra Mamea AB,

, VISICU, Volcano,

VLSI Very large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) c ...

, Ximis, portions of Westinghouse and the consumer electronics operations of

Philco Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics industry, electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased ...

and Sylvania. Philips abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is now owned by

Havells Sylvania Havells Sylvania (now Feilo Sylvania) and formerly SLI (Sylvania Lighting International), is an international designer and manufacturer of lighting products, trading as Sylvania. It has plants throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa and Central and So ...

except in Australia, Canada, Mexico,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the US where it is owned by

Osram Osram Licht AG is a German company that makes electric lights, headquartered in Munich and Premstätten (Austria). Osram positions itself as a high-tech photonics company that is increasingly focusing on sensor technology, visualization and tre ...

. Formed in November 1999 as an equal joint venture between Philips and

Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American life sciences company that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Its global headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California. Agilent was establi ...

, the

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

manufacturer

Lumileds Lumileds is a lighting company that develops, manufactures, and distributes LEDs, light bulbs, and related products for automotive lighting, general lighting, and specialty lighting. Lumileds operates as a private company, having funds affiliat ...

became a subsidiary of Philips Lighting in August 2005 and a fully owned subsidiary in December 2006. An 80.1 percent stake in Lumileds was sold to Apollo Global Management in 2017. On 19 September 2018, Philips reported that it had acquired US-based Blue Willow Systems, a developer of a cloud-based senior living community resident safety platform. On 7 March 2019, Philips announced that was acquiring the Healthcare Information Systems business of Carestream Health Inc., a US-based provider of medical imaging and healthcare IT solutions for hospitals, imaging centers, and specialty medical clinics. On 18 July 2019, Philips announced that it has expanded its patient management solutions in the US with the acquisition of Boston-based start-up company Medumo. On 27 August 2020, Philips announced the acquisition of Intact Vascular, Inc., a U.S.-based developer of medical devices for minimally invasive peripheral vascular procedures. On 18 December 2020, Philips and BioTelemetry, Inc., a leading U.S.-based provider of remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring, announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement. On 19 January 2021, Philips announced the acquisition of Capsule Technologies, Inc., a provider of medical device integration and data technologies for hospitals and healthcare organizations. On 9 November 2021, Philips announced the acquisition of Cardiologs, an AI-powered cardiac diagnostic technology developer, to expand its cardiac diagnostics and monitoring portfolio.

Operations

Philips is registered in the Netherlands as a naamloze vennootschap (public corporation) and has its global headquarters in

. At the end of 2013, Philips had 111 manufacturing facilities, 59 R&D facilities across 26 countries and sales and service operations in around 100 countries. Philips is organized into three main divisions:

Philips Consumer Lifestyle Philips Consumer Lifestyle is a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational electronics company Philips which produces consumer electronics and small appliances. It is the only Philips company headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The America ...

(formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems), and Philips Lighting (Former). Philips achieved total revenues of €22.579 billion in 2011, of which €8.852 billion were generated by Philips Healthcare, €7.638 billion by Philips Lighting, €5.823 billion by Philips Consumer Lifestyle and €266 million from group activities. At the end of 2011, Philips had a total of 121,888 employees, of whom around 44% were employed in Philips Lighting, 31% in Philips Healthcare and 15% in Philips Consumer Lifestyle. The lighting division was spun out as a new company called Signify, which uses the Philips brand under license. Philips invested a total of €1.61 billion in research and development in 2011, equivalent to 7.10% of sales. Philips Intellectual Property and Standards is the group-wide division responsible for licensing, trademark protection and

patenting A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

. Philips currently holds around 54,000 patent rights, 39,000 trademarks, 70,000 design rights and 4,400 domain name registrations. In the 2021 review of

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...

's annual

World Intellectual Property Indicators World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) is an annual statistical report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The publication provides an overview of the activity in the areas of patents, utility models, trademarks, ...

Philips ranked 5th in the world for its 95 industrial design registrations being published under the

Hague System The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, also known as the '' Hague system'' provides a mechanism for registering an industrial design in several countries by means of a single application, filed in one lan ...

during 2020. This position is down on their previous 4th-place ranking for 85 industrial design registrations being published in 2019.

Asia

Thailand

Philips Thailand was established in 1952. It is a subsidiary that produces healthcare, lifestyle, and lighting products. Philips started manufacturing in Thailand in 1960 with an incandescent lamp factory. Philips has diversified its production facilities to include a fluorescent lamp factory and a luminaries factory, serving Thai and worldwide markets.

Hong Kong

Philips Hong Kong began operations in 1948. Philips Hong Kong houses the global headquarters of Philips' Audio Business Unit. It also house Philips'

Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Is ...

regional office and headquarters for its Design Division, Domestic Appliances & Personal Care Products Division, Lighting Products Division and Medical System Products Division. In 1974, Philips opened a lamp factory in Hong Kong. This has a capacity of 200 million pieces a year and is certified with ISO 9001:2000 and

ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b ...

. Its product portfolio includes prefocus, lensend and E10 miniature light bulbs.

China

Philips established its first Chinese factory in

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pearl ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, in 1990. The site mainly manufactures

s and healthcare products. In early 2008, Philips Lighting, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, opened a small engineering center in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to adapt the company's products to vehicles in Asia. Today Philips has 27 WOFE/JVs in China, employing >17,500 people. China is its second largest market.

India

Philips began operations in India in 1930, with the establishment of Philips Electrical Co. (India) Pvt Ltd in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

as a sales outlet for imported Philips lamps. In 1938, Philips established its first Indian lamp manufacturing factory in Kolkata. In 1948, Philips started manufacturing radios in Kolkata. In 1959, a second radio factory was established near

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. This was closed and sold around 2006. In 1957, the company converted into a public limited company, renamed "Philips India Ltd". In 1970, a new consumer electronics factory began operations in Pimpri near Pune. This is now called the 'Philips Healthcare Innovation Centre'. Also, a manufacturing facility 'Philips Centre for Manufacturing Excellence' was set up in Chakan, Pune in 2012. In 1996, the Philips Software Centre was established in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, later renamed the Philips Innovation Campus. In 2008, Philips India entered the water purifier market. In 2014, Philips was ranked 12th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. Now Philips India is one of the most diversified health care company & broadly focusing on Imaging, Utlrasound, MA & TC products & Sleep & respiratory care products. Philips is aspiring to touch life of 40 Million patients in India by next 2 years. In 2020, Philips introduced mobile ICUs in order to support clinicians to meet the rising demand of ICU beds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Israel

Philips has been active in Israel since 1948 and in 1998, set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Philips Electronics (Israel) Ltd. The company has over 700 employees in Israel and generated sales of over $300 million in 2007. Philips Medical Systems Technologies Ltd. (

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

) is a developer and manufacturer of

Computerized Tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

(CT), diagnostic and

Medical Imaging Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to rev ...

systems. The company was founded in 1969 as

Elscint Elscint was an Israeli technology company that developed, manufactured and sold medical imaging solutions, including: Nuclear medicine, computed tomography magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray scanners. Elscint's shares traded on the NASDAQ as w ...

Elron Electronic Industries Elron Electronic Industries is an Israeli technology holding company based in Tel Aviv; since 1962 the company has been involved in setting up, funding and developing over 30 companies and is considered one of the foundation stones of the high-t ...

and was acquired by Marconi Medical Systems in 1998, which was itself acquired by Philips in 2001. Philips Semiconductors formerly had major operations in Israel; these now form part of

. On 1 August 2019, Philips acquired Carestream HCIS division from Onex Corporation. As part of the acquisition, Algotec Systems LTD (Carestream HCIS R&D) located in Raanana Israel changed ownership in a share deal. In addition to that, Algotec changed its name to Philips Algotec and is part of Philips HCIS. Philips HCIS is a provider of medical imaging systems.

Pakistan

Philips has been active in Pakistan since 1948 and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Philips Pakistan Limited (Formerly Philips Electrical Industries of Pakistan Limited). The head office is in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

with regional sales offices in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

and

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

Singapore

Philips began operations in Singapore in 1951, initially as a local

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

ed Philips products. Philips later established manufacturing sites at

Boon Keng Road Boon Keng (, ta, பூன் கெங்) is a subzone within the planning area of Kallang, Singapore, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). The smallest in terms of physical area among the nine subzones that make up Kallang, B ...

and

Jurong Industrial Estate Jurong () is a major geographical region located at the south-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. Although mostly vaguely defined, the region's extent roughly covers the planning areas of Jurong East, Jurong West, Boon Lay, ...

in 1968 and 1970 respectively. Since 1972, its regional headquarters has been based in the central HDB town of

Toa Payoh Toa Payoh (, ta, தோ பாயோ) is a planning area and matured residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh planning area borders Bishan and Serangoon to the north, the Central Water Catc ...

, which from the 1990s until the early 2010s consisted of four interconnected buildings housing offices and factory spaces. In 2016, a new Philips APAC HQ building was opened on the site of one of the former 1972 buildings.

Europe

Denmark

Philips Denmark was founded in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1927, and is now headquartered in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

. In 1963, Philips established the Philips TV & Test Equipment laboratory in

Brøndby Municipality Brøndby Kommune (), a municipality ( da, kommune) in the former Copenhagen County (now Region Hovedstaden), is on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a total p ...

which was where engineers Erik Helmer Nielsen and Finn Hendil ( da; 1939–2011) created and developed some of Philips' most iconic television

test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

s, such as the monochrome PM5540 and the colour

PM5544 The Philips PM5544 is a television pattern generator, most commonly used to provide a television station with a complex test card commonly referred to as a Philips Pattern or PTV Circle pattern. The content and layout of the pattern was designed b ...

and

TVE test card The TVE colour test card (Spanish: Carta de ajuste color TVE) was an electronic analogue TV test card adopted by Televisión Española (TVE - Spanish national television) with the introduction of PAL colour broadcasts in 1975.* It is notable for i ...

s. Between 2000 and 2012, Philips TV & Test Equipment gradually became independent from Philips and renamed itself a
ProTelevision Technologies
now under the umbrella of the Italian compan
Elenos Group

France

Usine Philips Suresnes 41-43 rue de Verdun

Philips France has its headquarters in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud an ...

. The company employs over 3600 people nationwide. Philips Lighting has manufacturing facilities in

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; h ...

(

fluorescent lamp A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, which produces short-wave ultraviolet lig ...

s),

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

(automotive lighting),

Lamotte-Beuvron Lamotte-Beuvron () is a town and commune of about 5000 inhabitants in the Loir-et-Cher department of Centre-Val de Loire, France. The French Federal Equestrian Park, one of the largest in Europe, is based in Lamotte-Beuvron. Each July, the Fe ...

(architectural lighting by LEDs and professional indoor lighting),

Longvic Longvic () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population Personalities Rangers F.C. and Algeria defender Madjid Bougherra was born here. See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of ...

(lamps), Miribel (outdoor lighting),

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...

(professional indoor lighting).

Germany

Philips Germany was founded in 1926 in Berlin. Now its headquarters is located in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Over 4900 people are employed in Germany. * Hamburg ** Distribution center of the divisions Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle, and Lighting. ** Philips Medical Systems DMC. ** Philips Innovative Technologies, Research Laboratories. * Aachen ** Philips Innovative Technologies. ** Philips Innovation Services. * Böblingen ** Philips Medical Systems, patient monitoring systems. * Herrsching ** Philips Respironics. * Ulm ** Philips Photonics, development and manufacture of vertical laser diodes (VCSELs) and photodiodes for sensing and data communication.

Greece

Philips' Greece is headquartered in Halandri,

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

. As of 2012, Philips has no manufacturing plants in Greece, although previously there have been audio, lighting and telecommunications factories.

Italy

Philips founded its Italian headquarter in 1918, basing it in Monza (Milan) where it still operates, for commercial activities only.

Hungary

Philips founded PACH (Philips Assembly Centre Hungary) in 1992, producing televisions and

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

. After TPV entering the Philips TV business, the factory was moved under TP Vision, the new joint-venture company in 2011. Products have been transferred to Poland and China and factory was closed in 2013. By Philips acquiring PLI in 2007 another Hungarian Philips factory emerged in

Tamási Tamási is a town in Tolna County, Hungary. Tamási, named after St. Thomas, with a population of approximately 9200 is located just 30 kilometers East of Lake Balaton. The town was founded during Roman times and the Catholic church in the town ...

, producing lamps under the name of Philips IPSC Tamási, later Philips Lighting. The factory was renamed to Signify in 2017, still producing Philips lighting products.

Poland

Philips' operations in Poland include: a European financial and accounting centre in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

; Philips Lighting facilities in

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

Piła Piła (german: Schneidemühl) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population as of 2021 was 71,846, making it the third-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań ...

, and

Kętrzyn Kętrzyn (, until 1946 ''Rastembork''; german: link=yes, Rastenburg ) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,478 inhabitants (2019). Situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999), Kętrzyn was previously in Olsztyn Voivodeship (197 ...

; and a Philips Domestic Appliances facility in

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

Portugal

Philips started business in Portugal in 1927, as "Philips Portuguesa S.A.R.L.". Currently, Philips Portuguesa S.A. is headquartered in Oeiras near

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. There were three Philips factories in Portugal: the FAPAE lamp factory in Lisbon; the

Carnaxide Carnaxide () is a former civil parish in the municipality of Oeiras, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Carnaxide e Queijas. The population in 2011 was 25,911, in an area of 6.51 km².magnetic-core memory Magnetic-core memory was the predominant form of random access, random-access computer memory for 20 years between about 1955 and 1975. Such memory is often just called core memory, or, informally, core. Core memory uses toroids (rings) of a ...

factory near Lisbon, where the Philips Service organization was also based; and the

Ovar Ovar ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Aveiro District, Baixo Vouga Subregion in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,398, in an area of 147.70 km2. It had 42,582 eligible voters (2006). The municipality includes two cities: Ovar (1 ...

factory in northern Portugal making camera components and remote control devices. The company still operates in Portugal with divisions for commercial lighting, medical systems and domestic appliances.

Sweden

Philips Sweden has two main sites, Kista, Stockholm County, with regional sales, marketing and a customer support organization and Solna, Stockholm County, with the main office of the mammography division.

United Kingdom

Philips UK has its headquarters in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. The company employs over 2,500 people nationwide. * Philips Healthcare Informatics,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

develops healthcare software products. * Philips Consumer Products, Guildford provides sales and marketing for televisions, including High Definition televisions, DVD recorders, hi-fi and portable audio, CD recorders, PC peripherals, cordless telephones, home and kitchen appliances, personal care (shavers, hair dryers, body beauty and

oral hygiene Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and cleaning between the teeth. It is important that oral hygiene be carried out ...

). * Philips Dictation Systems,

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. * Philips Lighting: sales from Guildford and manufacture in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. * Philips Healthcare, Guildford. Sales and technical support for X-ray, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, patient monitoring, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and resuscitation products. * Philips Research Laboratories,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(Until 2008 based in

Redhill, Surrey Redhill () is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The ...

. Originally these were the Mullard Research Laboratories.) In the past, Philips UK also included: * Consumer product manufacturing in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

* Television Tube Manufacturing Mullard Simonstone * Philips Business Communications,

: offered voice and data communications products, specialising in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, IP Telephony, data networking, voice processing, command and control systems and cordless and mobile telephony. In 2006 the business was placed into a 60/40 joint venture with NEC. NEC later acquired 100 per cent ownership and the business was renamed NEC Unified Solutions. * Philips Electronics Blackburn; vacuum tubes, capacitors, delay-lines, Laserdiscs, CDs. * Philips Domestic Appliances

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

: Design and Production of

Electric kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

s, Fan Heaters plus former

brand "Thermotube" Tubular Heaters and "Hostess" Domestic Food Warming Trolleys. * Mullard

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and

Hazel Grove Hazel Grove is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, close to the Peak District national park. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, the area was kno ...

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

. Originally brought together as a joint venture between

Mullard Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of Southfields, London, was founded in 1920 by Captain Stanley R. Mullard, who had previously designed thermionic valves for the Admiral ...

and GEC as ''Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers''. They developed and manufactured

rectifiers A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The reverse operation (converting DC to AC) is performed by an inver ...

diodes A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other. A diode ...

transistors upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

integrated circuits An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

and electro-optical devices. These became Philips Semiconductors before becoming part of NXP. * London Carriers, logistics and transport division. * Mullard Equipment Limited (MEL) which produced products for the military * Ada (Halifax) Ltd, maker of washing machines and spin driers, refrigerators * Pye TVT Ltd of Cambridge * Pye Telecommunications Ltd of Cambridge * TMC Limited of

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...

North America

Canada

Philips Canada was founded in 1941 when it acquired Small Electric Motors Limited. It is well known in medical systems for diagnosis and therapy, lighting technologies, shavers, and consumer electronics. The Canadian headquarters are located in

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...

. For several years, Philips manufactured lighting products in two Canadian factories. The

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, plant opened in 1971. It produced A19 lamps (including the "Royale" long life bulbs), PAR38 lamps and T19 lamps (originally a Westinghouse lamp shape). Philips closed the factory in May 2003. The

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Quebec plant was a Westinghouse facility which Philips continued to run it after buying Westinghouse's lamp division in 1983. Philips closed this factory a few years later, in the late 1980s.

Mexico

Philips Mexico Commercial SA de CV is headquartered in Mexico City. This entity was incorporated in FY2016 to sales consumer lifestyle and healthcare portfolios in the market.

United States

Philips' Electronics North American headquarters is in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. Philips Lighting has its corporate office in

Somerset, New Jersey Somerset is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

;

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...

;

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...

and distribution centers in

Mountain Top, Pennsylvania Mountain Top is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 10,982. The Mountain Top CDP is located along Pennsylvania Route 309 (south of ...

;

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...

; and

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and operates a health-tech hub in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, with over 1,000 jobs. The North American sales organization is based in

Bothell, Washington Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

. There are also manufacturing facilities in Bothell, Washington;

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

; Cleveland, Ohio; Foster City, California; Gainesville, Florida; Milpitas, California; and Reedsville, Pennsylvania. Philips Healthcare also formerly had a factory in Knoxville, Tennessee. Philips Consumer Lifestyle has its corporate office in Stamford, Connecticut. Philips Lighting has a Color Kinetics office in Burlington, Massachusetts. Philips Research North American headquarters is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2007, Philips entered into a definitive merger agreement with North American luminaires company Genlyte Group Incorporated, which provides the company with a leading position in the North American luminaires (also known as "lighting fixtures"), controls and related products for a wide variety of applications, including solid state lighting. The company also acquired Respironics, which was a significant gain for its healthcare sector. On 21 February 2008, Philips completed the acquisition of Baltimore, Maryland-based VISICU. VISICU was the creator of the eICU concept of the use of Telemedicine from a centralized facility to monitor and care for ICU patients. In April 2020, the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) entered into a contract with Philips Respironics for 43,000 bundled Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator (EV300) hospital ventilators. This included the production and delivery of ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile—about 156,000 by the end of August 2020 and 187,000 more by the end of 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020, in response to an international demand, Philips increased production of the ventilators fourfold within five months. Production lines were added in the United States with employees working around the clock in factories producing ventilators, in Western Pennsylvania and California, for example. In March 2020, ProPublica published a series of articles on the Philips ventilator contract as negotiated by trade adviser Peter Navarro. In response to the ProPublica series, in August, the United States House of Representatives undertook a "congressional investigation" into the acquisition of the Philips ventilators. The lawmakers investigation found "evidence of fraud, waste and abuse".—the deal negotiated by Navarro had resulted in an over-payment to Philips by the US government of "hundreds of millions".

Oceania

Australia and New Zealand

Philips Australia was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in North Ryde, New South Wales, and also manages the New Zealand operation from there. The company currently employs around 800 people. Regional sales and support offices are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland. Current activities include: Philips Healthcare (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Lighting (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Oral Healthcare, Philips Professional Dictation Solutions, Philips Professional Display Solutions, Philips AVENT Professional, Philips Consumer Lifestyle (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Sleep & Respiratory Care (formerly Respironics), with its ever-increasing national network of Sleepeasy Centres; Philips Dynalite (Lighting Control systems, acquired in 2009, global design and manufacturing centre) and Philips Selecon NZ (Lighting Entertainment product design and manufacture).

South America

Brazil

Philips do Brasil was founded in 1924 in Rio de Janeiro. In 1929, Philips started to sell radio receivers. In the 1930s, Philips was making its light bulbs and radio receivers in Brazil. From 1939 to 1945, World War II forced Brazilian branch of Philips to sell bicycles, refrigerators and insecticides. After the war, Philips had a great industrial expansion in Brazil, and was among the first groups to establish in Manaus Free economic zone, Free Zone. In the 1970s,

was a major player in Brazil recording industry. Nowadays, Philips do Brasil is one of the largest foreign-owned companies in Brazil. Philips uses the brand Walita for domestic appliances in Brazil.

Colour television

Colour television was introduced in South America by then CEO, Cor Dillen.

Former operations

Philips subsidiary manufactured pharmaceuticals for human and veterinary use and products for crop protection. Duphar was sold to Solvay (company), Solvay in 1990. In subsequent years, Solvay sold off all divisions to other companies (crop protection to UniRoyal, now Chemtura Corporation, Chemtura, the veterinary division to Fort Dodge, a division of Wyeth, and the pharmaceutical division to Abbott Laboratories).

, Philips' music television and movies division, was sold to Seagram in 1998; merged into Universal Music Group.

continues to operate as record label of UMG, its name licensed from its former parent. In 1980, Philips acquired Marantz, a company renowned for high-end audio and video products, based at Kanagawa, Japan. In 2002, Marantz Japan merged with Denon to form D&M Holdings and Philips sold its remaining stake in D&M Holdings in 2008. Origin, now part of Atos Origin, is a former division of Philips. ASML Holding, ASM Lithography is a spin-off from a division of Philips. Hollandse Signaalapparaten was a manufacturer of military electronics. The business was sold to Thomson-CSF in 1990 and is now Thales Nederland.

, formerly known as Philips Semiconductors, was sold a consortium of private equity investors in 2006. On 6 August 2010, NXP completed its IPO, with shares trading on NASDAQ. Ignis, of Comerio, in the province of Varese, Italy, produced washing machines, dishwashers and microwave ovens, was one of the leading companies in the domestic appliance market, holding a 38% share in 1960. In 1970, 50% of the company's capital was taken over by Philips, which acquired full control in 1972. Ignis was in those years, after Zanussi, the second largest domestic appliance manufacturer, and in 1973 its factories numbered over 10,000 employees only in Italy. With the transfer of ownership to the Dutch multinational, the corporate name of the company was changed, which became "IRE SpA" (''Industrie Riunite Eurodomestici''). Thereafter Philips used to sell major household appliances (whitegoods) under the name Philips. After selling the Major Domestic Appliances division to Whirlpool Corporation it changed from Philips Whirlpool to Whirlpool Philips and finally to just Whirlpool. Whirlpool bought a 53% stake in Philips' major appliance operations to form Whirlpool International. Whirlpool bought Philips' remaining interest in Whirlpool International in 1991. Philips Cryogenics was split off in 1990 to form the Stirling Cryogenics BV, Netherlands. This company is still active in the development and manufacturing of Stirling cryocoolers and cryogenic cooling systems. North American Philips distributed AKG Acoustics products under the AKG of America, Philips Audio/Video, Norelco and AKG Acoustics Inc. branding until AKG set up its North American division in San Leandro, California, in 1985. (AKG's North American division has since moved to Northridge, California.) Polymer Vision was a Philips spin-off that manufactured a flexible e-ink display screen. The company was acquired by Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Wistron in 2009 and it was shut down in 2012, after repeated failed attempts to find a potential buyer.

Products

Philips' core products are consumer electronics and electrical products (including small domestic appliances, shavers, beauty appliances, mother and childcare appliances, electric toothbrushes and coffee makers (products like Smart Phones, audio equipment, Blu-ray players, computer accessories and televisions are sold under license); and healthcare products (including CT scanners, Electrocardiography, ECG equipment, mammography equipment, monitoring equipment, MRI scanners, radiography equipment, resuscitation equipment, ultrasound equipment and X-ray equipment); In January 2020 Philips announced that it is looking to sell its domestic appliances division, which includes products like coffee machines, air purifiers and airfryers.

Lighting products

* Professional indoor luminaires * Professional outdoor luminaires * Professional lamps * Lighting controls and control systems * Digital projection lights * Horticulture lighting * Solar LED lights * Smart office lighting systems * Smart retail lighting systems * Smart city lighting systems * Home lamps * Home fixtures * Home systems (branded as

) * Automotive Lighting

Audio products

* High fidelity#Modern equipment, Hi-fi systems * Wireless speakers * Radio#Audio: Radio broadcasting, Radio systems * Docking stations * Headphones * DJ mixers * Alarm clocks

Healthcare products

Philips healthcare products include:

Clinical informatics

* Cardiology informatics (IntelliSpace Cardiovascular, Xcelera) * Imaging informatics, Enterprise Imaging Informatics (IntelliSpace PACS, XIRIS) * IntelliSpace family of solutions

Imaging systems

* Cardio/Vascular X-Ray Wires and Catheters (Verrata) * Computed tomography (CT) * Fluoroscopy * Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) *Mammography * Mobile C-Arms * Nuclear medicine * PET (Positron emission tomography) * PET/CT * Radiography * Radiation oncology Systemsroots * Ultrasound

Diagnostic monitoring

* Diagnostic ECG

Defibrillators

* Accessories * Equipment * Software

Consumer

Elsa_Victory_Erazor-AGP-4_-_Philips_74HCT14D-7515

* Philips AVENTil

Patient care and clinical informatics

* Anesthetic gas monitoring * Blood pressure * Capnography * D.M.E. * Diagnostic sleep testing * ECG * Enterprise patient informatics solutions *:OB TraceVue *:Compurecord *:ICIP *:eICU program *:Emergin * Hemodynamic * IntelliSpace Cardiovascular * IntelliSpace PACS * IntelliSpace portal * Multi-measurement servers * Neurophedeoiles * Pulse oximetry * Tasy * Temperature * Transcutaneous gases * Ventilation * ViewForum * Xcelera * XIRIS * Xper Information Management

Logo evolution

The famous Philips logo with the stars and waves was designed by Dutch architect Louis Kalff (1897–1976), who stated that the emblem had been created as a coincidence so he did not know how a radio system worked. File:Philips history shield.jpg, 1938–68 File:Philips old logo.svg, 1968–2008 File:Philips Shield blue.svg, 2008–13 File:Philips shield (2013).svg, 2013–present File:Philips logo.svg, Wordmark (1968–2008) File:Philips logo new.svg, Wordmark (2008–present)

Slogans

* Untuk Hiburan Jang Bermutu (Indonesia only) * Pilihan Tepat! (Indonesia only) * Untuk Anda Yang Terbaik (Indonesia only) * Trust In Philips Is Worldwide (1960-1974) * Simply Years Ahead (1974-1981) * We Want You To Have The Best (1981-1985) * Take a Closer Look (1985-1995) * Let's Make Things Better (1995–2004) * Sense & Simplicity (2004–2013) * Innovation & You (2013–present)

Sponsorships

In 1913, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, Philips founded ''Philips Sports Vereniging'' (Philips Sports Club, now commonly known as PSV). The club is active in numerous sports but is now best known for its football team,

, and swimming team. Philips owns the naming rights to Philips Stadion, Philips Stadium in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Frans van Houten François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of Philips, Royal Philips Electronics (known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded Gerard Kleisterlee. B ...

, hold several global leadership positions in advancing the circular economy, including as a founding member and co-chair of the board of directors for the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), applying circular approaches in its capital equipment business, and as a global partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Planned obsolescence

Philips was a member of the Phoebus cartel along with

, Tungsram, Associated Electrical Industries, , Compagnie des Lampes, International General Electric, and the GE Overseas Group, holding shares in the Swiss corporation proportional to their lamp sales. The cartel lowered operational costs and worked to standardize the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours (down from 2,500 hours), and raised prices without fear of competition. The cartel tested their bulbs and fined manufacturers for bulbs that lasted more than 1,000 hours.

Green initiatives

Philips also runs the EcoVision initiative, which commits to a number of environmentally positive improvements, focusing on energy efficiency. Also, Philips marks its "green" products with the Philips Green Logo, identifying them as products that have a significantly better environmental performance than their competitors or predecessors.

L-Prize competition

In 2011, Philips won a $10 million cash prize from the US Department of Energy for winning its L Prize, L-Prize competition, to produce a high-efficiency, long operating life replacement for a standard 60-W incandescent lightbulb.Margery Conner, EE Times
"$10M L Prize goes to Philips for 60W replacement LED bulb"
. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011. The winning LED lightbulb, which was made available to consumers in April 2012, produces slightly more than 900 Lumen (unit), lumens at an input power of 10 W.

Greenpeace ranking

In Greenpeace's 2012 Guide to Greener Electronics that ranks electronics manufacturers on sustainability, climate and energy and how green their products are, Philips ranks 10th place with a score of 3.8/10. The company was the top scorer in the Energy section due to its energy advocacy work calling upon the EU to adopt a 30% reduction for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It is also praised for its new products which are free from Polyvinyl chloride, PVC plastic and Brominated flame retardant, BFRs. However, the guide criticizes Philips' sourcing of pulp and paper, fibres for paper, arguing it must develop a paper procurement policy which excludes suppliers involved in deforestation and illegal logging. Philips have made some considerable progress since 2007 (when it was first ranked in this guide), in particular by supporting the Individual Producer Responsibility principle, which means that the company is accepting the responsibility for the toxic impacts of its products on e-waste dumps around the world.

Publications

* A. Heerding: ''The origin of the Dutch incandescent lamp industry''. (Vol. 1 of ''The history of N.V. Philips gloeilampenfabriek''). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986. * A. Heerding: ''A company of many parts''. (Vol. 2 of ''The history of N.V. Philips' gloeilampenfabrieken''). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. * I.J. Blanken: ''The development of N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken into a major electrical group''. Zaltbommel, European Library, 1999. (Vol. 3 of ''The history of Philips Electronics N.V.''). * I.J. Blanken: ''Under German rule''. Zaltbommel, European Library, 1999. (Vol. 4 of ''The history of Philips Electronics N.V'').

References

External links

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