Telefunken

1900s-1930s

Around the start of the 20th century, two groups of German researchers worked on the development of techniques for wireless communication. The one group at AEG, led by Adolf Slaby and Georg Graf von Arco, developed systems for the Kaiserliche Marine; the other one, under Karl Ferdinand Braun, at Siemens, for the German Army. Their main competitor was the British Marconi Company.

When a dispute concerning patents arose between the two companies, Kaiser Wilhelm II urged both parties to join efforts, creating Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie System Telefunken ("The Company for Wireless Telegraphy Ltd.") joint venture on 27 May 1903, with the disputed patents and techniques invested in it. On 17 April 1923, it was renamed Telefunken, The Company for Wireless Telegraphy. Telefunken was the company's telegraphic address. The first technical director of Telefunken was Count Georg von Arco.

Telefunken rapidly became a major player in the radio and electronics fields, both civilian and military. Prior to World War I the company set up the first world wide network of communications and during the war they supplied radio sets and telegraphy equipment for the military, as well as building one of the first radio navigation systems for the Zeppelin force. The Telefunken Kompass Sender operated from 1908 to 1918, allowing the Zeppelins to navigate throughout the North Sea area in any weather.

In 1911, Telefunken built a wireless station in West Sayville just north of the Long Island Rail Road tracks. A 500-foot tower that could be raised and lowered rose from a ball and socket joint atop a concrete foundation. It was completed in 1912 and wireless messages could then be transmitted to a similar tower in Nauen 3,500 miles away. From August 1, 1914, until April 6, 1917, the United States monitored messages sent over the Telefunken wireless and the United States Marine Corps guarded the station. After the U.S. declared war the station was sealed off, the wire fence surrounding it was charged with electricity, and floodlights were placed throughout. After World War I it was taken over by Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company and later the Federal Aviation Administration. It was demolished in 1938.

Starting in 1923, Telefunken built broadcast transmitters and radio sets. In 1928, Telefunken made history by designing the V-41 amplifier for the German Radio Network. This was the very first two-stage, "Hi-Fi" amplifier. Over time, Telefunken perfected their designs and in 1950 the V-72 amplifier was developed. The TAB (a manufacturing subcontractor to Telefunken) V-72 soon became popular with other radio stations and recording facilities. The V-72S was the only type of amplifier found in the REDD.37 console used by the Beatles at Abbey Road Studios on many of their early recordings.

In 1932, record players were added to the product line.

1940s-1970s

In 1941, Siemens transferred its Telefunken shares to AEG as part of the agreements known as the "Telefunken settlement", and AEG thus became the sole owner and continued to lead Telefunken as a subsidiary (starting in 1955 as "Telefunken GmbH" and from 1963 as "Telefunken AG").

During the Second World War, Telefunken was a supplier of vacuum tubes, transmitters and radio relay systems, and developed Funkmess facilities (later referred to as radar devices by the US Navy) and directional finders, as part of the German air defence against aerial bombing. During the war, manufacturing plants were shifted to and developed in west of Germany or relocated. Thus, Telefunken, under AEG, turned into the smaller subsidiary, with the three divisions realigning and data processing technology, elements as well as broadcast, television and phono. Telefunken was also the originator of the FM radio broadcast system. Telefunken, through the subsidiary company Teldec (a joint venture with Decca Records), was for many decades one of the largest German record companies, until Teldec was sold to WEA in 1988.

In 1959, Telefunken established a modern semiconductor works in Heilbronn, where in April 1960 production began. The works was expanded several times, and in 1970 a new 6-storey building was built at the northern edge of the area. At the beginning of the 1970s it housed approximately 2,500 employees.

In 1967, Telefunken was merged with AEG, which was then renamed AEG-Telefunken. In the beginning of the 1960s, Walter Bruch developed the PAL-colour television system for the company, in use by most countries of the western Hemisphere (except the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the western part of South America). PAL is established i.e. in the United Kingdom (PAL-I) and, except France, many other European countries -–also in Brazil (PAL-M), Argentina (PAL-N), South Africa, India and Australia.

The mainframe computer TR 4 was developed at Telefunken in Backnang, and the TR 440 [de] model was developed at Telefunken in Konstanz, including the first ball-based mouse named Rollkugel in 1968. The computers were in use at many German university computing centres from the 1970s to around 1985. The development and manufacture of large computers was separated in 1974 to the Konstanz Computer Company (CGK). The production of mini- and process computers was integrated into the automatic control engineering division of AEG.

1980s and later

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Telefunken was also instrumental in the development of high quality audio noise reduction systems, including telcom c4 [de] (marketed since 1975), High Com (marketed since 1978), High Com II, High Com III, High Com FM, and CX (1982).

AEG-Telefunken became bankrupt in 1982. The French Thomson bought its consumer electronics division in 1983 and continued to make and market Telefunken products. The remainings of AEG-Telefunken was bought by Daimler-Benz in 1985, and "Telefunken" was dropped from the new company name which became just AEG AG but certain subsidiaries continued having that name.

In 1995, Telefunken Sendertechnik GmbH, the heavy industrial infrastructure subsidiary of AEG that built high-power commercial broadcast transmitters, was sold to Tech Sym Corporation (owners of Continental Electronics Corporation of Dallas) for $9 million. However, it remained a German company based in Berlin. In 2005, this company changed its name to Transradio SenderSysteme Berlin AG. The name "Transradio" dates back to 1918, when Transradio was founded as a subsidiary of Telefunken and a year later made history by introducing duplex transmission. In August 2006, Transradio was acquired by the Turkish company Profilo Telra, one of the largest manufacturers of televisions in Europe, with brand-owner Telefunken Licenses GmbH granting a license for the trademark rights to let Profilo release new Telefunken television sets. In 2008, the licensed trademark rights were granted to Turkish company Vestel.

Another part of the original Telefunken, Telefunken Racoms, involved in military radio, remained part of Daimler-Benz until it was spun off in 2000 as EADS Racoms, only to be purposefully renamed back to Telefunken Racoms a few years later. It was still based in Ulm and kept this name until 2020 when it was renamed by its owner, Elbit Systems.

Meanwhile, South Windsor, Connecticut based Telefunken Elektroakustik (Telefunken USA) was founded in 2001 as a modern revival of the original Telefunken. The company has held the exclusive rights for professional studio audio equipment. They also provide restoration services and build reproductions of vintage Telefunken microphones.

In 2023, the Telefunken brand was acquired by the advisory and investment firm Gordon Brothers.