Sinclair Research
| Company type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computing Electronics |
| Founded | Cambridge, England, UK (1973) |
| Founder | Clive Sinclair |
| Defunct | October 14, 2025 |
| Headquarters | , UK |
Key people | Nigel Searle, Director (1979 to 1986) Jim Westwood Rick Dickinson, Designer |
| Products | Sinclair ZX Spectrum Sinclair QL |
| Revenue | £102 million GBP (1985) |
Number of employees | 140 (1980s) 3 (1990) 1 (1997) |
Sinclair Research Ltd was a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge in the 1970s. In 1980, the company entered the home computer market with the ZX80 at £99.95 (equivalent to £411 in 2023), at that time the cheapest personal computer for sale in the United Kingdom. A year later, the ZX81 became available through retailers, introducing home computing to a generation, with more than 1.5 million sold. In 1982 the ZX Spectrum was released, becoming the UK's best selling computer, and competing aggressively against Commodore and Amstrad.
A combination of the failures of the Sinclair QL computer and the TV80 pocket television led to financial difficulties in 1985, and a year later Sinclair sold the rights to its computer products and brand name to Amstrad. Sinclair Research Ltd continued to exist as a one-man company, marketing Clive Sinclair's inventions.