VEF
Street view of the oldest building of VEF in 2017. Built by architect Heinrich Scheel in 1899 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electronics, telecommunications, radio receivers, photography, aircraft |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Riga, Latvia |
Area served | Interwar Latvia (1918–1940), Soviet Union (1940–1991), Latvia (1991–1999) |
| Products | Minox, VEF Spidola, VEF I-11, etc |
Number of employees | 4000 (1938) |
VEF, Latvian acronym for Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika (State Electrotechnical Factory), was a manufacturer of electrical and electronic products in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1919. Before World War II, it manufactured a large variety of goods, including Minox — then the world's smallest camera. After the war, it was the leading communication technology producer in the Soviet Union and the largest factory in the Latvian SSR.