There was an interesting bit of industrial espionage intrigue around the 555, a story he told friends and family many times. As he mentions in his book "Design

There was an interesting bit of industrial espionage intrigue around the 555, a story he told friends and family many times. As he mentions in his book "Designing Analog Chips" he was at one point stuck on a design that required 9 pins, and that forced it into a 14 pin package. He initially submitted this design to Signetics and it was this design that someone in the company leaked to a competitor. But the larger package bugged him and he kept at it until he was able to get it down to 8 pins which allowed an 8-pin package, much preferable over a 14 pin one. The competitors, unaware of the improved design, came out with the larger 14-pin package and this gave Signetics a significant edge when they started selling the 555.