
This first factory has since been adapted and is used as a museum. Frederik, a banker based in Zaltbommel, 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. The Philips Company was founded in 1891, by Dutch-Jewish entrepreneur Gerard Philips and his father Frederik Philips.

As of 2012, Philips was the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world as measured by applicable revenues. The company started making electric shavers in 1939 under the Philishave brand, and post-war they developed the Compact Cassette format and co-developed the Compact Disc format with Sony, as well as numerous other technologies. The lighting division was spun off as a separate company, Signify N.V. Philips is organized into three main divisions: Personal Health (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Connected Care, and Diagnosis & Treatment (formerly Philips Medical Systems). The company gained its royal honorary title in 1998 and dropped the "Electronics" in its name in 2013, due to its refocusing from consumer electronics to healthcare technology.

It currently employs around 80,000 people across 100 countries. The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik, with their first products being light bulbs. Philips was formerly one of the largest electronics companies in the world, currently focused on the area of health technology, with other divisions being divested.

Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. (in Dutch literally 'Royal Philips', commonly shortened to Philips) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. The very first Philips factory in Eindhoven, now a public museum
