Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Consolidated Statements of Operations [Abstract]
Net revenues	$ 745,159	$ 716,795
Costs of products sold	534,000	511,495
Gross profit	211,159	205,300
Selling, general, and administrative expenses	103,424	101,238
Operating income	107,735	104,062
Other income (expense):
Interest expense	(8,392)	(7,677)
Other components of net periodic pension cost	(3,396)	(3,519)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	(1,307)	0
Other	5,308	(847)
Total other income (expense)	(7,787)	(12,043)
Income before taxes	99,948	92,019
Income tax expense (benefit)	24,307	29,474
Net earnings	75,641	62,545
Less: net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	182	179
Net earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders	$ 75,459	$ 62,366
Basic earnings per share attributable to Vishay stockholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.52	$ 0.43
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Vishay stockholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.52	$ 0.39
Weighted average shares outstanding - basic (in shares)	144,554	144,327
Weighted average shares outstanding - diluted (in shares)	145,289	159,502
Cash dividends per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0850	$ 0.0675