The origin of JEDEC can be traced back to 1944, when the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA), and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) established the Joint Electron Tube Engineering Council (JETEC) to coordinate vacuum tube type numberings.

In the fall of 1999, JEDEC became a separate trade association under the current name, but maintained an EIA alliance.

[2] JEDEC's early work began as a part numbering system for devices which became popular in the 1960s.

The first RMA digit thus was re-allocated from "heater power" to "p-n junction count" to form the new EIA/JEDEC EIA-370 standard; for example, the 1N4001 rectifier diode and 2N2222 transistor part numbers came from EIA-370.

JEDEC later developed a numbering system for integrated circuits, but this did not gain acceptance in the semiconductor industry.

The European Pro Electron semiconductor numbering system originated in a similar way from the older Mullard–Philips tube designation.

For example, the ESD caution symbol, which is the hand with the line drawn through it, was published by JEDEC and is used worldwide.

One hot issue is the development of lead-free packages that do not suffer from the tin whiskers problem that reappeared since the recent ban on lead content.