Mostek is a semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturer , founded in 1969 by former Texas Instruments employees. Initially, the products were manufactured in Worcester ( Massachusetts , USA ), and since 1974, most of the production was located at the Carrollton factory ( Texas , USA) on Crosby Road. In its best years, in the late 1970s, Mostek held up to 85% of the global DRAM chip market until it was overshadowed by Japanese chip makers, which brought the market down by offering equivalent chips at lower prices.
In 1979, shortly after reaching its peak of development, Mostek was purchased by United Technologies for $ 345 million. In 1985, after several years of loss and a decrease in market share, UTC sold Mostek for $ 71 million to the French electronics manufacturer Thomson SA , which later became part of STMicroelectronics . Mostek's intellectual property portfolio, which included rights to the Intel x86 microprocessor family and many of the fundamental patents for DRAM memory technology, unexpectedly brought huge royalties to STMicroelectronics wallet in the 1990s.
Early years
Mostek was the first to receive an order for $ 400 from Burroughs to design circuitry.
The first circuit produced at Worcester’s new MOS semiconductor factory was the MK1001, a simple shear microcircuit.
Links
- Interview, “The Oral History of Charles Phipps,” Computer History Museum , May 28, 2009. (eng.)
- Interview with Jerry Rogers (Founder of Cyrix ), 1994
- Mostek MK4116 Dynamic Memory Chip in the Smithsonian Institution Chip Collection
- Mostek at Antique Tech