The foundations of Philips settled in 1891 when Gerard Philips and his father Frederik Philips founded Philips & Co. in Eindhoven, Netherlands. A few years later, in 1895, Gerard's brother, Anton Philips, reinforced the young company. It proved to be a huge commercial talent and in a few years Philips became part of the largest producers of bulbs in the world. With the momentum of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the first Philips Research Lab was founded in 1914 and the company began introducing its first innovations in technology X-ray and radio. Over the years, the list of inventions has not stopped growing and include advances that have continued to enrich the daily lives of people.

Royal Philips, based in the Netherlands is a diversified technology company whose main objective is to improve the lives of people with significant innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting life. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and health care home solutions, energy efficient lighting and new lighting applications, as well as in personal and male shaving and oral health arrangement.

Philips is organized into several subdivisions like Philips Consumer Lifestyle (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics, Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems).

Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. At the end of 2010, its total sales amounted to 25.419 million euros and had a staff of 119.001 workers.