Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments makes analog chips. That sounds mundane, but analog chips power every car, appliance, industrial machine. They control power delivery, signal conditioning, sensor interfaces. Chips from decades ago still generate revenue because they're embedded in products taking years to design and decades to manufacture. The business model is elegant. Texas Instruments designs a chip once, then manufacturers for 30 years. An automotive contract from 2004 still generates royalties in 2024. Customers stay because redesigning products around new chips costs hundreds of millions. Changing is nearly impossible. Texas Instruments has 80,000 products.