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-Packard. The resulting initial public offering of Agilent stock was the largest in the history of Silicon Valley at the time.[2] From 1999 to 2014, the company produced optics (LED, laser), semiconductors, EDA software and test and measurement equipment for electronics; that division was spun off to form Keysight.[3] Since then, the company has continued to expand into pharmaceutical, diagnostics & clinical, and academia & government (research) markets.[4]
History
In 1965, Hewlett-Packard branched out into scientific equipment by acquiring F&M Scientific, maker of gas chromatographs. Agilent Technologies was created in 1999 as a spin-off of several business units of Hewlett-Packard[5] including test & measurement, optics, instrumentation and chemical analysis, electronic components, and medical equipment product lines.[6] The split was predicated on the difficulty of growing HP's revenue stream and on the competitive vigor of smaller, more agile competitors.[7] The company's launch slogan was "Innovating the HP Way", which capitalized on the strong HP corporate culture called The HP Way.[7] The starburst logo was selected to reflect "a burst of insight" (or "spark of insight")[8] and the name "Agilent" aimed to invoke the notion of agility as a trait of the new firm.[7] The Agilent spin-off was accompanied by an initial public offering which raised $2.1 billion, setting a record at the time.
2000–2009
In the early 2000s, "economic uncertainty" depressed demand for Agilent's products,[9] including slow sales of health care products to hospitals in the United States, which accounted for 60% of the company's revenue at the time.[5] The downturn also struck sales in the communications and semiconductor markets, where orders amounting to $500 million were canceled by buyers.[10] These poor economic conditions prompted large reductions in force with 18,500 positions cut in 2003.[9] In 2001, in midst of this downsizing, Agilent sold its health care and medical products organization to Philips Medical Systems,[11] and was noted as having a valuation of about $11 billion.[12]
Products and services
Agilent serves analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets with a full suite of technology platforms. These include: automation, bioreagents, FISH probes, gas and liquid chromatography, immunohistochemistry, informatics, mass spectrometry, microarrays, spectroscopy, target enrichment, and vacuum technologies.[36]
Agilent also provides lab management services, including enterprise asset management, laboratory business intelligence, equipment management and service, software maintenance, regulatory compliance, sample preparation, genomics and cloning, GC and HPLC columns, spectrometry and spectroscopy supplies, and consumables.[36] The company is known for investing in R&D within its own research labs and those of leading universities to advance the state of knowledge in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space.[37]
In recent years, the company has advanced digital lab instrumentation and technology that improves lab workflow and overall efficiency and productivity. In 2020, Agilent introduced CrossLab Virtual Assist, a mobile app that facilities high-quality remote technical support.
Further reading
Books
News items
External links
References
- Agilent Technologies 2025 Form 10-K Annual Report U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, December 22, 2025^
- Arensman. Unfinished business: managing one of the biggest spin-offs in corporate history would be a challenge even in the best of times. But what Agilent's Ned Barnholt got was the worst of times. Electronic Business, Reed Business Information, 1 October 2002, retrieved 29 July 2015^
- Agilent Technologies Spins Off Its Electronic Measurement Business, Keysight Technologies