Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in
Eindhoven
Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, though the
Benelux
The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...
headquarters is still in Eindhoven. The company gained its
royal honorary title in 1998.
Philips was founded by
Gerard Philips and his father Frederik, with their first products being
light bulbs. Through the 20th century, it grew into one of the world's largest electronics
conglomerates, with global market dominance in products ranging from
kitchen appliances and
electric shavers to
light bulbs,
televisions,
cassettes, and
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
s (both of which were invented by Philips). At one point, it played a dominant role in the entertainment industry (through
PolyGram). However, intense competition from primarily East Asian competitors throughout the 1990s and 2000s led to a period of downsizing, including the divestment of its
lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
and
consumer electronics divisions, and Philips' eventual reorganization into a healthcare-focused company.
As of 2024, Philips is organized into three main divisions: Diagnosis and Treatment (manufacturing healthcare products such as
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...
,
CT and
ultrasound
Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...
scanners), Connected Care (manufacturing
patient monitors, as well as respiratory care products under the
Respironics
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.
Some of its products had ha ...
brand), and Personal Health (manufacturing
electric shavers,
Sonicare electric toothbrushes and
Avent childcare products).
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 re ...
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 (economics), index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calcul ...
. 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, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
. Acquisitions included
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", often stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics brand. It was purchased by North American Philips in 1974, which was absorbed into Dutch electronics company Philips in 1987. The predecessor to Magnavox w ...
. It also founded a multidisciplinary sports club called
PSV Eindhoven
Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...
in 1913.
History

The Philips Company was founded in 1891, by
Dutch entrepreneur
Gerard Philips 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.

In 1895, after a difficult first few years and near-bankruptcy, the Philipses brought in
Anton, 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 or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
, they laid the foundations for the later
multinational company.
In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic 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 voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...
s. For this purpose the
Van Arkel–de Boer process was invented.
In 1924, Philips joined with German lamp trust
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 trea ...
to form the
Phoebus cartel.
Radio

On 11 March 1927, Philips went on the air, inaugurating the shortwave radio station
PCJJ (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 (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
(now
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
). 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 in the region, instead of the more commo ...
to use for pro-
Nazi broadcasts, some originating from Germany, others concerts from Dutch broadcasters under German control.

In the early 1930s, Philips introduced the "Chapel", a radio with a built-in loudspeaker.
Philips Radio was absorbed shortly after
liberation when its two shortwave stations were nationalized in 1947 and renamed
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Radio Netherlands (RNW; ) 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 in Dutch ended on 11 May 2012. Eng ...
, 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 expansion and contraction of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') by exposing it to different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical Work (ph ...
when, in the early 1930s, company management decided that offering a low-power portable generator would assist in expanding sales of its radios into parts of the world where electricity was unavailable or where there was an unreliable supply of batteries. 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 favored). 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. Philips asserted that modern materials and know-how would 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. By the late 1940s, the "Type 10" was ready to be handed over to Philips' 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 cryocooler is a refrigerator designed to reach cryogenic temperatures (below 120 K, -153 °C, -243.4 °F). The term is most often used for smaller systems, typically table-top size, with input powers less than about 20 kW. Some can have inpu ...
. The company 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
Philishave. In the US, it was called
Norelco. The Philishave has remains part of the Philips product line-up to the present.
World War II
On 9 May 1940, the Philips directors learned that the German
invasion
An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...
of the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
was to take place the following day. Being prepared,
Anton Philips and his son-in-law
Frans Otten, 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
The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...
to keep it out of German hands.
On 6 December 1942, the British
No. 2 Group RAF undertook
Operation Oyster, which heavily damaged the Philips Radio factory in Eindhoven with few casualties among the Dutch workers and civilians. The Philips location in Eindhoven was bombed again by the RAF on 30 March 1943.
Frits Philips, 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
Vught internment camp for political prisoners 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 (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
in 1995 as a "
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
".
Car audio
Philips innovated car audio equipment for many vehicle manufacturers, including
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The origins of the compa ...
,
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
,
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...
,
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...
,
Renault
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
,
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.
From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...
and
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
.
In response to popular culture and consumer spending power, Philips focused on making its technologies accessible. The first compact cassette audio player—ideal for the mass market—was an instant success. It set the global standard for tape recording and was followed by the first stereo compact cassette player, as well as car and portable radio cassette players.
Post-WWII growth
After the war, the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in
Eindhoven
Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
.

In 1949, the company began selling
television set
A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...
s.
In 1950, it formed
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...
, which eventually formed part of
PolyGram in 1962. Philips introduced the
compact cassette
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a 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 and his team at the Dutch company ...
audio tape format in 1963, and it was wildly successful. Cassettes were initially used for
dictation machine
A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record Speech communication, 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 ...
s for office typing
stenographers and by professional journalists. As their sound quality improved, cassettes would also be used to record sound, and became the second mass media alongside
vinyl records used to sell recorded music.

Philips introduced the first combination
portable radio and cassette recorder, which was marketed as the "radio recorder", now better known as the
boombox
A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape players/recorders and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid-1990s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered thro ...
. 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 United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...
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 Data storage, storage of large amounts of data in a persistence (computer science), persisting and machine-readable data, machine-readable fashion. In general, the term ''mass'' in ''mass storage'' is use ...
for early personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s. Philips reduced the cassette size for professional needs with the
mini-cassette, although it was not as successful as the
Olympus microcassette. The mini-cassette 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 communication, 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 ...
machines. Philips continued manufacturing computer products through the early 1990s as
Philips Computers.
In 1972, Philips launched the world's first home
videocassette recorder
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to reco ...
, 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
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
's
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...
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. 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 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 had developed a
LaserDisc
LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
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
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
; this format evolved into the
CD-R
CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times.
CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...
,
CD-RW
RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format introduced by Ricoh in 1997. A CD-RW compact disc (CD-RWs) can be written, read, erased, and re-written.
CD-RWs, as opposed to CDs, r ...
,
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 ki ...
and later
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
, which Philips launched with Sony in 1997 and 2006 respectively.
In 1984, the Dutch Philips Group bought out nearly a one-third share and took over the management of the German company
Grundig. Also in 1984, Philips split off its activities on the field of
photolithographic integrated circuit production equipment, the so-called wafer steppers, into a joint venture with
ASM International, located in
Veldhoven 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
(, ; ) is a Japanese optics and photographic equipment manufacturer. Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and equipment related to S ...
and
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western canon, th ...
.
1980s–2000s: Decline
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 optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
, 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 typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
, but it was soon discontinued after being heavily criticized amongst the gaming community.
In the 1980s, Philips's
profit margin
Profit margin is a financial ratio that measures the percentage of profit earned by a company in relation to its revenue. Expressed as a percentage, it indicates how much profit the company makes for every dollar of revenue generated. Profit margi ...
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 or Taiwan Semiconductor) is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is one of the world's most valuable semiconductor companies, the world' ...
which was established as a joint venture between Philips, the Taiwan government and other private investors.
In 1990, the newly appointed CEO, Jan Timmer, decided to sell off all businesses that dealt with computers which meant the end of Philips Data Systems as well as other computer activities. In 1991, the businesses were acquired by Digital Equipment Corporation. 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 ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
along with the corporate name change to
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., the latter of which was finalized on 16 March 1998. In 1997, Philips introduced at CES and CeBIT the first large (42-inch) commercially available flat-panel TV, using Fujitsu plasma displays. 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 is 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 area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
. The group was designed to be an incubator where promising technologies and products could be developed.
The move of the headquarters to Amsterdam was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the
Rembrandt Tower. In 2002, it moved to the Breitner Tower. Philips Lighting,
Philips Research,
Philips Semiconductors (spun off as NXP in September 2006), and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in both
Best, Netherlands (near Eindhoven) and
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...
, (north of
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
).
In 2000, Philips bought Optiva Corporation, the maker of
Sonicare electric toothbrush
An electric toothbrush, motorized toothbrush, or battery-powered toothbrush is a toothbrush that makes rapid automatic bristle motions, either back-and-forth oscillating, oscillation or rotation-oscillation (where the brush head alternates clockwi ...
es. The company was renamed Philips Oral Healthcare and made a subsidiary of Philips DAP. In 2001, Philips acquired
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off from Hewlett-Packar ...
' Healthcare Solutions Group (HSG) for EUR 2 billion. Philips created a computer monitors joint venture with
LG called
LG.Philips Displays in 2001. In 2001, after growing the unit's Emerging Businesses group to nearly $1 billion in revenue,
Scott A. McGregor 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
is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...
in 2008).

In 2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favor 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. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
. On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in NXP Semiconductors to a consortium of
private equity
Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...
investors consisting of
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR),
Silver Lake Partners and
AlpInvest Partners. On 21 August 2006,
Bain Capital
Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...
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 March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...
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 (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...
, 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 (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, 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. 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, fundamental research, basic science, or pure science, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenome ...
.
In 2010, Philips introduced the Airfryer brand of convection oven at the
IFA Berlin consumer electronics fair.
Philips announced the sale of its Assembléon subsidiary which made pick-and-place machines for the electronics industry.
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.
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.
2011–: Focus on healthcare
After 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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
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 on an oscilloscope, a ...
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 remained under Philips. Philips said it would seek damages for breach of contract in the ]US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
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 (ICC) and consists of more than 100 arbitrators from rough ...
ruled in favour of Philips, awarding compensation of €135 million in the process.
In April 2013, Philips announced a collaboration with Paradox Engineering 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 (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
Gibson, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation and Gibson Brands Inc.) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Orvil ...
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 image-guided therapy business.
In May 2016, Philips' lighting division Philips Lighting went through a spin-off process, and became an independent public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...
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). On 18 July 2017, Philips announced its acquisition of TomTec Imaging Systems GmbH.
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 color-changing LED light bulbs.
In 2021, Philips Domestic Appliances was purchased by Hillhouse Capital for $4.4 billion. The company, now known as Versuni
Versuni (formerly Philips Consumer Lifestyle) is a privately-owned Dutch company, headquartered in Amsterdam, which produces consumer electronics and small appliances. Formerly a subsidiary of Dutch electronics conglomerate Philips, it was sold t ...
, continues to sell small appliances under the Philips brand under license.
In 2022, Philips announced that Frans Van Houten, who had served as CEO for 12 years would be stepping down, after a key product recall cut the company's market value by more than half over the previous year. He was to be replaced by Philips's EVP and Chief Business Leader of Connected Care, Roy Jakobs, effective 15 October 2022. In 2023, the company announced that it would be cutting 6,000 jobs from the company worldwide over the next two years after reporting 1.6 billion euros in losses during the 2022 financial year. The cuts came in addition to a 4,000-person staff reduction announced in October 2022.
In August 2023, Exor N.V., the holding company owned by the Agnelli family
The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty family founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known fo ...
, took a 15% stake in Philips. The transaction was worth roughly €2.6 billion. On 17 September 2024, Philips announced the introduction of the 160 cm FDA approved version of its unique LumiGuide endovascular navigation wire. It also marked the 1000th patient treated with its breakthrough 3D device guidance technology.
Corporate affairs
CEOs
Past and present CEOs:
* 1891–1922: Gerard Philips
* 1922–1939: Anton Philips
* 1939–1961: Frans Otten
* 1961–1971: Frits Philips
* 1971–1977:
* 1977–1981: Nico Rodenburg
* 1982–1986: Wisse Dekker
* 1986–1990: Cor van der Klugt
* 1990–1996: Jan Timmer
* 1996–2001: Cor Boonstra
* 2001–2011: Gerard Kleisterlee
* 2011–2022: Frans van Houten
* 2022–present: Roy Jakobs
CEOs lighting:
*2003–2008: Theo van Deursen
*2012–2016: Eric Rondolat
CFOs
Past and present CFOs (chief financial officer)
* 1960–1968: Cor Dillen
* –1997: Dudley Eustace
* 1997–2005: Jan Hommen
* 2008-2015: Ro
Wirahadiraksa
* 2015–2024: Abhijit Bhattacharya
* 2024–present: Charlotte Hanneman
Executive committee
Source:
*CEO: Roy Jakobs
*CFO: Charlotte Hanneman
*COO: Willem Appelo
*Chief ESG & Legal Officer: Marnix van Ginneken
*Chief Patient Safety & Quality Officer: Steve C da Baca
*Chief Business Leader (Connected Care): Julia Strandberg
*Chief Business Leader (Personal Health): Deeptha Khanna
*Chief Business Leader (Image Guided Therapy): Bert van Meurs
*Chief Business Leader (Precision Diagnosis): Jie Xue
*Chief of International Region: Özlem Fidanci
*Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer and Chief Business Leader of Enterprise Informatics: Shez Partovi
*Chief Region Leader (Greater China): Ling Liu
*Chief Region Leader (North America): Jeff DiLullo
*Chief People Officer: Heidi Sichien
Acquisitions
Companies acquired by Philips through the years include ADAC Laboratories, Agilent Healthcare Solutions Group, Amperex, ATL Ultrasound, EKCO, Lifeline Systems, Magnavox
Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", often stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics brand. It was purchased by North American Philips in 1974, which was absorbed into Dutch electronics company Philips in 1987. The predecessor to Magnavox w ...
, Marconi Medical Systems, Mullard
Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronics, 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 (US ...
, Optiva, Preethi, Pye, Respironics, Inc., Sectra Mamea AB, 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 ...
, Teletrol, VISICU, Volcano, VLSI, 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 purchase ...
and Sylvania. Philips abandoned the Sylvania trademark, which is now owned by Havells Sylvania, except in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, and Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
and the rest of 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 trea ...
. Formed in November 1999 as an equal joint venture between Philips and Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off from Hewlett-Packar ...
, 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 (corre ...
manufacturer Lumileds 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 18 July 2017, Philips announced its acquisition of TomTec Imaging Systems GmbH On 19 September 2018, Philips reported that it had acquired Canada-based Blue Willow Systems, a developer of a cloud-based senior living community resident safety platform.
On 7 March 2019, Philips announced that it 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 US-based developer of medical devices for minimally invasive peripheral vascular procedures. On 18 December 2020, Philips and BioTelemetry, Inc., a leading US-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
(; abbreviated as N.V. or NV ) or (in the French Community of Belgium) ' ('' SA'') is a type of public company defined by business law in the Netherlands, Belgium, Indonesia (where it is known as , correctly abbreviated PT and allows for pri ...
'' (public corporation) and has its global headquarters in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. 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 (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 €22.579billion in 2011, of which €8.852billion were generated by Philips Healthcare, €7.638billion by Philips Lighting, €5.823billion by Philips Consumer Lifestyle, and €266million 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 €1.61billion 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. Philips holds around 54,000 patent rights, 39,000 trademarks, 70,000 design rights and 4,400 domain name registrations. In the 2024 review of WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...
's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Philips ranked 7th in the world for its 294 industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...
registrations being published under the Hague System during 2023.
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 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
The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...
. Its product portfolio includes prefocus, lensend and E10 miniature light bulbs.
China
Philips established its first 50/50 joint venture company Beijing Philips Audio/Video Corporation (北京飞利浦有限公司) with Beijing Radio Factory (北京无线电厂) to manufacture audio consumer electronic products in Beijing in 1987. In 1990, a factory was set up in Zhuhai
Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...
, Guangdong
) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
, mainly manufactures Philishaves and healthcare products. In early 2008, Philips Lighting, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, opened a small engineering center in Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
to adapt the company's products to vehicles in Asia. Today, Philips has 27 WOFE/JVs in China, employing more than 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, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
(then Calcutta) as a sales outlet for imported Philips lamps. In 1938, Philips established its first Indian lamp manufacturing factory in Kolkata. In 1948, Philips began manufacturing radios in Kolkata. In 1959, a second radio factory was established near Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. 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. Also, a manufacturing facility was started in Chakan, Pune in 2012. In 1996, the Philips Software Centre was established in Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
, 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 companies and focuses on imaging, sleep and respiratory care products, ultrasound, monitoring and analytics items, as well as therapeutic care products. 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 ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...
) is a developer and manufacturer of computerized tomography
A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (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 or ...
(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 revea ...
systems. The company was founded in 1969 as Elscint by Elron Electronic Industries 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 NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
.
On 1August 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 is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
with regional sales offices in Lahore
Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
and Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...
.
Singapore
Philips began operations in Singapore in 1951, initially as a local distributor
A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time.
Design
...
of import
An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...
ed Philips products. Philips later established manufacturing sites at Boon Keng Road and Jurong Industrial Estate in 1968 and 1970 respectively. Since 1972, its regional headquarters has been based in the central HDB town of Toa Payoh
Toa Payoh ( or , , ) is a Planning areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, mature residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region, Singapore, Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh planning area borde ...
, 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 ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
in 1927, and is now headquartered in Frederiksberg
Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...
.
In 1963, Philips established the Philips TV & Test Equipment laboratory in Amager
Amager ( ), located in the Øresund, is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 216,000 inhabitants (January 2022). The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (including Kalvebod Fælled) makes up more than one-third of the ...
(moved to Brøndby Municipality in 1989) which was where engineers Erik Helmer Nielsen and (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 and TVE test cards. In 1998 Philips TV & Test Equipment was spun off as ProTeleVision Technologies A/S and sold to PANTA Electronics B.V. which was owned by a consortium of investors led by Advent International
Advent International Corporation is an American global private equity firm. It is focused on buyouts of companies in Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on international buyouts, growth and strat ...
. ProTeleVision Technologies A/S was dissolved in 2001 with products transferring t
ProTelevision Technologies Corp A/S
, DK-Audio A/S (dissolved 2018) and AREPA Test & Calibration.
France
Philips France has its headquarters in Suresnes
Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020.
Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...
. 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 Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefectu ...
(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, to produce ultraviolet and make a phosphor ...
s), Chartres
Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
(automotive lighting), Lamotte-Beuvron (architectural lighting by LEDs and professional indoor lighting), Longvic (lamps), Miribel (outdoor lighting), Nevers
Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...
(professional indoor lighting). All manufacturing in France were sold or discontinued before the Lighting spin-off in 2016.
Germany
Philips Germany was founded in 1926 in Berlin. Now its headquarters is located in Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. 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 Chalandri in Attica
Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...
. As of 2012, Philips has no manufacturing plants in Greece, although previously there were audio, lighting and telecommunications factories.
Italy
Philips founded its Italian subsidiary in 1923, basing it in Milan where it still operates. After the closure of the company's industrial operations, mainly manufacturing TVs in Monza and conventional light bulbs near Turin, Philips Italia exists for commercial activities only.
Hungary
Philips founded PACH (Philips Assembly Centre Hungary) in 1992, producing televisions and consumer electronics
Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...
in Székesfehérvár. 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, 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; Philips Lighting facilities in Bielsko-Biała, Piła, and Kętrzyn; and a Philips Domestic Appliances facility in Białystok.
Portugal
Philips started business in Portugal in 1927, as "Philips Portuguesa S.A.R.L.". Philips Portuguesa S.A. is headquartered in Oeiras, Portugal, Oeiras near Lisbon. There were three Philips factories in Portugal: the FAPAE lamp factory in Lisbon; the Carnaxide magnetic-core memory factory near Lisbon, where the Philips Service organization was also based; and the Ovar 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.
The company was a major supplier of defence electronics to the Swedish Armed Forces operating under the name Philips Elektronikindustrier AB with its final location in Järfälla Municipality, Järfälla, a suburb of Stockholm. What remains of that division is now part of Saab AB.
United Kingdom
Philips UK has its headquarters in Guildford. The company employs over 2,500 people nationwide.
* Philips Healthcare Informatics, Belfast 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, and personal care products (shavers, hair dryers, body beauty, and oral hygiene ).
* Philips Dictation Systems, Colchester
* Philips Lighting: sales from Guildford and manufactured in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton
* 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 (until 2008 based in Redhill, Surrey; originally it was called the Mullard Research Laboratories).
In the past, Philips UK also included:
* Consumer product manufacturing in Croydon
* Television Tube Manufacturing Mullard Simonstone
* Philips Business Communications, Cambridge: offered voice and data communications products, specializing 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: Design and Production of Electric kettles, Fan heater, Fan Heaters plus former EKCO brand "Thermotube" Tubular Heaters and "Hostess" Domestic Food Warming Trolleys
* Mullard Southampton and Hazel Grove, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Stockport was originally brought together as a joint venture between Mullard
Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronics, 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 (US ...
and General Electric Company, GEC as ''Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers''. They developed and manufactured rectifiers, diodes, transistors, integrated circuits, and Electro-optics, electro-optical devices. It 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 Ltd., Pye TVT Ltd of Cambridge
* Pye Telecommunications Ltd of Cambridge
* TMC Limited of Malmesbury
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.
For several years, Philips manufactured lighting products in two Canadian factories. The London, Ontario, plant opened in 1971. It produced A19 lamps (including the "Royale" long life bulbs), Parabolic aluminized reflector light, PAR38 lamps and T19 lamps (originally a Westinghouse Electric (1886), Westinghouse lamp shape). Philips closed the factory in May 2003. The Trois-Rivières, 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. Philips Lighting has its corporate office in Somerset, New Jersey; with manufacturing plants in Danville, Kentucky; Salina, Kansas; Dallas and Paris, Texas; and distribution centers in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania; El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
; Ontario, California; and Memphis, Tennessee. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and operates a health-tech hub in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville with over 1,000 jobs. The North American sales organization is based in Bothell, Washington. There are also manufacturing facilities in Bothell, Washington; Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Foster City, California; Gainesville, Florida; Milpitas, California; and Reedsville, Pennsylvania. Philips Healthcare 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.
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-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; it also manages the New Zealand operation from there. The company employs about 800 people. Regional sales and support offices are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Auckland.
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 began selling 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, Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...
was a major player in Brazil recording industry. Now Philips do Brasil is one of the largest foreign-owned companies in Brazil. Philips uses the brand Walita for domestic appliances in Brazil.
Color television
Color television was introduced in South America by Cor Dillen (CFO, 1960–1968; CEO, 1981–1982), with continent-wide service in the early 1980s.
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. Since then 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).
PolyGram, Philips' music television and movies division, was sold to Seagram in 1998 and merged into Universal Music Group. Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...
continues to operate as record label of UMG, its name is 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. NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
, 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, NASDAQ.
Ignis, of Comerio, in the province of Varese, Italy, producing 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 (company), 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 which manufactured a flexible Electronic paper, 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 personal health products including shavers, beauty appliances, mother and childcare appliances, electric toothbrushes 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 wanted to sell its domestic appliances division, which includes products like coffee machines, air purifiers, and air fryers.
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 Philips Hue)
* Automotive Lighting
Audio and Visual products
* High fidelity#Modern equipment, Hi-fi systems
* Wireless speakers
* Radio#Audio: Radio broadcasting, Radio systems
* Docking stations
* Headphones
* DJ mixers
* Alarm clocks
* Television set, TVs
* Videocassette recorder, VCRs
* DVD players
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)
* CT scan, Computed tomography (CT)
* Fluoroscopy
* Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
*Mammography
* Mobile X-ray image intensifier, C-Arms
* Nuclear medicine
* PET (Positron emission tomography)
* PET-CT
* Radiography
* Radiation therapy, Radiation oncology Systemsroots
* Ultrasound
Diagnostic monitoring
* Diagnostic ECG
Defibrillators
* Automated external defibrillators
* Portable monitor/defibrillators
* Accessories
* Equipment
* Software
Consumer
* Philips AVENTil
Patient care and clinical informatics
* Anesthetic gas monitoring
* Blood pressure
* Capnography
* D.M.E.
* Diagnostic sleep testing
* Electrocardiography, ECG
* Enterprise patient informatics solutions
*:OB TraceVue
*:Compurecord
*:ICIP
*:eICU program
*:Emergin
* Hemodynamics, Hemodynamic
* IntelliSpace Cardiovascular
* IntelliSpace PACS
* IntelliSpace portal
* Multi-measurement servers
* Neurophedeoiles
* Pulse oximetry
* Tasy
* Temperature
* Transcutaneous gases
* Ventilation
* ViewForum
* Xcelera
* XIRIS
* Xper Information Management
In 2021, Philips acquired medical device company Capsule Technologies.
Logo evolution
The Philips logo with the stars and waves was designed by Dutch architect Louis Kalff (1897–1976), who said that the emblem had been created as a coincidence as he did not know how a radio system worked.
File:Philips history shield.jpg, 1938–59
File:Philips old logo.svg, 1959–2008
File:Philips Shield blue.svg, 2008–13
File:Philips shield (2013).svg, 2013–present
File:Philips logo.svg, Wordmark (1959–2008)
File:Philips logo new.svg, Wordmark (2008–present)
Slogans
* 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 and You (2013–present)
Sponsorships
In 1913, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, Philips founded (Philips Sports Club, now commonly known as PSV). The club is active in numerous sports but is now best known for its football team, PSV Eindhoven
Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...
, and swimming team. Philips owns the naming rights to Philips Stadion, Philips Stadium in Eindhoven
Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
, which is the home ground of PSV Eindhoven.
Outside of the Netherlands, Philips sponsors and has sponsored numerous sports clubs, sports facilities and events. In November 2008, Philips renewed and extended its Formula One, F1 partnership with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, AT&T Williams. Philips owns the naming rights to the ''Philips Championship'', the premier basketball league in Australia, traditionally known as the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League. From 1988 to 1993, Philips was the principal sponsor of the Australian Rugby League Commission, Australian rugby league team Balmain Tigers, The Balmain Tigers and Indonesian football club side Persiba Balikpapan. From 1998 to 2000, Philips sponsored the NASCAR Cup Series, Winston Cup No. 7 entry for Geoff Bodine Racing, later Ultra Motorsports, for drivers Geoff Bodine and Michael Waltrip. From 1999 to 2018, Philips held the naming rights to Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association and former home of the defunct Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League. In 2024, Philips became a sponsor for La Liga team FC Barcelona.
Outside of sports, Philips sponsored the international ''Philips Monsters of Rock festival''.
Respironics recall
In June 2021, Philips announced a voluntary recall of several of its Respironics ventilators, BiPAP, and CPAP machines due to potential health risks. Gradual degradation of foam in the devices, intended to reduce noise and vibrations during operation, could result in patients inhaling particulates or certain chemicals. The recall involved around 3 to 4 million machines which, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to a supply chain crisis impeding the availability of these devices to patients. Originally, Philips described the risks as potentially "life-threatening" but that there had been no reports of death as a result of the issues. Since then, the FDA has received 385 reports of death allegedly caused by the foam issue.
In 2023, ProPublica and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Philips had received thousands of patient reports and returned machines affected by the degrading foam as far back as 2010, and many of these reports were not disclosed to the FDA as Philips was legally obligated to do.
In October 2022, dozens of lawsuits against Philips related to the safety concerns were consolidated into one class-action lawsuit. Philips settled this lawsuit in September 2023 for at least $479 million. In January 2024, Philips agreed to halt the sale of any new sleep apnea devices in the US as part of an agreement with the FDA. As part of the deal, Philips would need to meet certain conditions in its US manufacturing plants, a process that Philips CEO Roy Jakobs said could take five to seven years.
Environmental record
Planned obsolescence
Philips was a member of the 1925 Phoebus cartel along with 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 trea ...
, 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. The company marks its "green" products with the Philips Green Logo, identifying them as products which 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 ranked 10th of 16 companies 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 was also praised for its new products which are free from Polyvinyl chloride, PVC plastic and Brominated flame retardant, BFRs. However, the guide criticized Philips' sourcing of Pulp and paper industry, fibres for paper, arguing it must develop a paper procurement policy which excludes suppliers involved in deforestation and illegal logging.
Philips has made progress since 2007 (when it was first ranked in the guide started in 2006), in particular by supporting the Individual Producer Responsibility principle meaning that the company is accepting the responsibility for the toxic impacts of its products on e-waste dumps around the world.
Dubai Lamp
In 2016 Philips introduced a series of LED lamps with an efficiency up to 200lm/W. The Dubai Lamp produces 600 lumens at an input power of 3 W.
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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