Transistor Exports At New Peak

'Although February imports of transistors were up slightly from £74,283 to £82,965, the gap between imports and exports closed to a mere £6,959 the narrowest yet.'

'This trend can be expected to continue. It is an outward sign of the significant expansion that has taken place in transistor production in the UK and the increasing success of transistor exports in overseas markets,' continues the story.

Top overseas countries for British semiconductors in Feb 1961 were: Netherlands (£42,942) West Germany  (£4,750) and Rhodesia and Nyasaland ((£4,679).

Russia (then the USSR) bought £903 worth of British transistors in February 1961, and the Congo Republic bought £17 worth.

Nowadays. with Europe suffering from a massive trade gap in semiconductors, it is good to know that, once upon a time, the UK nearly achieved a balance between imports and exports of the devices.