Silicon Storage Technology
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| File:Silicon Storage Technology logo.gif | |
| 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 | www |
Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (SST) is a Sunnyvale, California, USA, technology company producing non-volatile memory devices and related products.[1][2] SST supplies of NOR flash and other integrated circuits for high-volume applications.[3]
History
Bing Yeh co-founded SST in 1989, and served as its chief executive.[4]
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 trade show, SST introduced the 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 its headquarters to 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] The company had its initial public offering November 21, 1995, trading on the NASDAQ market under the symbol SSTI.[6] Analytical models of SuperFlash were published.[7][8] A five year licensing agreement was announced in January 1999 with Acer Inc..[9] A 1997 lawsuit filed by Intel was settled in May 1999 after mediation.[10]
During the next 10 years, SST introduced low- to medium density memory products and expanded their applications beyond PCs. In 2004, SST began to diversify beyond flash memory products, targeting consumer and industrial products with embedded solid-state data storage and RF wireless communication.[11] In September 2004 SST purchased a majority stake in Emosyn, which designed products for SIM cards. In October it announced the acquisition of G-Plus, based in Santa Monica, California.[11]
By the end of 2006, SST and its licensees had shipped more than seven billion integrated circuits based on SuperFlash technology.[citation needed]
Starting in February 2010, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and public company Microchip Technology both made offers to acquire SST. [12][13] In April 2010, Microchip completed the acquisition for about $292 million.[14][15] Microchip sold several SST flash memory assets to Greenliant Systems (founded by Yeh) in May that year.[16]
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ "SST Reports Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results". Press release. Silicon Storage Technology. July 28, 2009. Archived from the original on August 8, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Silicon Storage Technology". StorageSearch.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
- ^ Saxenian, AnnaLee (1999). Silicon Valley's new immigrant entrepreneurs. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-58213-009-5.
- ^ "Pioneers of the Digital Revolution". Goldsea Asian American Daily. 2006. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ "Annual report for the Year ending December 31, 1996". Form 10K. US Securities and Exchange Commission. March 27, 1997. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ "An analytical model for optimization of programming efficiency and uniformity of split gate source-side injection SuperFlash memory". IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices. 50 (3): 809–815. March 2003. doi:10.1109/TED.2003.811416.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ "Endurance Characteristics of SuperFlash Memory". 8th International Conference on Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology: 763–765. October 2006. doi:10.1109/ICSICT.2006.306479.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ "Chips are up for Acer: Deal with SST to bring welcome cash boost". The Register. January 14, 1999. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ Mike Magee (May 14, 1999). "Intel and Silicon Storage settle lawsuit: A mediator has mediated". The Register. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ a b "SST 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). SST. April 22, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 1, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Microchip Tech Raises Bid for Silicon Storage". New York Times Deal Book. March 9, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ Andrew Johnson (March 9, 2010). "Microchip ups bid for tech company". The Arizona Republic.
- ^ Mark LaPedus (April 8, 2010). "Microchip completes SST acquisition". EE Times. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ "Microchip Tech Sews Up Silicon Storage Deal". New York Times Deal Book. April 9, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ^ Maleval, Jean-Jacques (May 27, 2010). "Greenliant Acquires Assets of Microchip". StorageNewsletter.com. Retrieved October 1, 2013.