Silicon Storage Technology
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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 1989 |
| Founder | Bing Yeh |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Bing Yeh |
| Products | Flash memory |
Number of employees | 715 |
| Parent | Microchip Technology |
| Website | http://www.sst.com/ |
Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (SST) is a Sunnyvale, California, USA, technology company[1] producing non-volatile memory devices and related products.[2] It was founded by Bing Yeh in 1989.[3] SST is a major supplier of NOR flash and integrated circuits addressing the requirements of high-volume applications in the Internet computing, digital consumer, networking, and wireless communications markets.[4]
History
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2009) |
Bing Yeh and a team of engineers developed a non-volatile memory technology the company called "SuperFlash" for code or data storage in electronic systems and embedded memory for integrated logic circuits.
Non-volatile memory devices retain data without a continuous supply of power. Virtually every microprocessor or microcontroller-based electronic system requires non-volatile memory to store a basic instruction set critical to the operation of the system. Prior to 1989, read-only memory (ROM), UV-light erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), and the then-emerging flash memory created a succession of increasingly useful non-volatile memory products for this purpose. However, these products lacked important features, or were too expensive, for some desirable applications.
At the 1992 Fall COMDEX show, SST introduced the world’s first single-board 30 MB 2.5” solid-state drive with standard hard-disk ATA interface and a 5 MB PC Card memory card with built-in controller and firmware. At that time, the company deemed there to be an inadequate market for the devices, and focused on the memory component business.[5]
In 1993, SST moved to its current headquarters in Sunnyvale. That same year, SST introduced its first SuperFlash technology products, with lower costs and faster write speeds. By the end of 1995, more than 90% of the PC motherboards produced in Taiwan had adopted SST's 1 Mbit SuperFlash EEPROM product for the BIOS storage.[citation needed] SST went public on the NASDAQ market in November 1995.
During the next 10 years, SST introduced low- to medium density memory products and expanded their applications beyond PCs. By the end of 2006, SST and its licensees had shipped more than seven billion integrated circuits based on SuperFlash technology. SST products are now used by almost every major electronic system manufacturer and can be found in virtually every type of IT and consumer product.[citation needed]
In 2004, SST began an initiative to diversify beyond flash memory products, targeting consumer and industrial products with embedded solid-state data storage and RF wireless communication.[6]
In 2010, SST was acquired by Microchip Technology,[7] which sold several SST flash memory assets to Greenliant Systems in May that year.[8]
References
- ^ "SST Reports Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results". Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. July 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ Christensen, Clayton M. (1997). The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-87584-585-2.
{{cite book}}: More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ Saxenian, AnnaLee (1999). Silicon Valley's new immigrant entrepreneurs. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-58213-009-5.
{{cite book}}: More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ "Silicon Storage Technology". StorageSearch.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
- ^ "Pioneers of the Digital Revolution". Goldsea Asian American Daily. 2006. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
- ^ "SST 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). company website. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
- ^ "Microchip completes SST acquisition". EE Times. April 8, 2010. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
- ^ Maleval, Jean-Jacques (May 27, 2010). "Greenliant Acquires Assets of Microchip". StorageNewsletter.com. Retrieved 2011-04-14.