Kingston Technology Company .It is the world leader among independent memory manufacturers. Initially in 1987, Kingston Technology® offered only one product. Today, Kingston offers more than 2,000 different memory products compatible with virtually every memory-requiring device, from computers, servers, printers to MP3 players, digital cameras, and portable phones. In 2007, the company’s sales exceeded $ 4.5 billion.
Summary
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- 1 Introduction
- 2 The history of the Kingston Technology Company
- 3 History
- 4 Sources
Introduction
Based in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston Technology has nearly 2,400 employees worldwide. Listed by Fortune magazine on its “Best Companies to Work For in America” list, Kingston Technology’s high regard for respect, fidelity, flexibility and integrity creates an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston Technology believes investing in its people is essential, and sees every employee as a vital part of Kingston’s success.
Kingston Technology serves an international network of distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and OEM customers on six continents. Our company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services to semiconductor manufacturers and OEM system manufacturers.
The History of the Kingston Technology Company
In the early days of Kingston Technology in the 1980s, there was a severe shortage of surface mount memory chips. John Tu and David Sun decided to find a solution by applying their technical knowledge and designing a new Single In-Line Memory Module (SIMM) that used widely available “through-hole” components on the market. That day, October 17, 1987, a new industry standard was born, and with it, Kingston Technology.
History
- 1987 – On October 17, John Tu and David Sun founded the company, with a single product.
- 1989 – Kingston carried out the 100% check, guaranteeing the quality of its products.
- 1994 – Introduced the DataTraveler® and DataPak ™ line of portable products.
- 1995 – First factory in Europe, located in Munich (Germany). The main office was located in Sunbury (United Kingdom) and in Hsinchu (Taiwan). There were also some departments in California, Shanghai, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Shenzhen.
- 1996 – On August 15, Softbank Corporation of Japan acquired 80% of Kingston Technology for a total of $ 1.5 billion. In November, together with Toshiba, they sold memory for the latter’s computers; It was the first time that an OEM equipment manufacturer had partnered with a memory manufacturer.
- 1997 – In January, it opened its European headquarters in the United Kingdom, its manufacturing plant and offices in Taiwan, and its commercial office in Japan. In August, it opened its manufacturing plant and offices in Dublin, Ireland.
- 1999 – In July, John Tu and David Sun repurchased 80% of Kingston Technology from Softbank for $ 450 million. ValueRAM®, high-quality, low-cost memory was introduced. In September, the manufacturing plant was opened in Penang, Malaysia.
- 2000 – Advanced Validation Labs, Inc. (AVL), the company in charge of carrying out the memory validations, opened the laboratories. Kingston Technology (SPD) Storage Products Division started as an independent company, StorCase® Technology, Inc. In June, Kingston Technology announced a new supply chain management model for its memory manufacturing process; Payton Technology Inc. was founded to facilitate the development of this model.
- 2001 – In March, it announced the formation of its Consumer Markets Division (CMD), a division that
focused on the retail and e-tail channel; This new division handled sales, marketing and support for e-rail and retail channel partners in line with Kingston’s core competencies.
- 2002 – In January, he was included for the fifth consecutive year in Forbes magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. In July, he launched and patented his industry-leading memory tester. In November, it launched the HyperX® product line: high-performance memory modules, and chip-mounted EPOC technology.
- 2003 – In April, received the Dell Diverse Supplier Award for Best Overall Performance. In June, he was honored with the “Excellence in Fairness” awarded by the Great Place to Work Institute. In August, it invested $ 50 million in Elpida. In September, it increased its production with a plant in Shanghai (China). In October, it launched the “Green Initiative” program for module manufacturing. In November, he won the “Specialist Vendor Partner of the Year” award from the VNU Channel Awards.
- 2004 – In October, it announced record profits of more than $ 2 billion in 2004. In March, Kingston Technology Europe was voted one of the best places in the UK to work for as it became part of the Top 50 Best list. Small Companies to work for »from the Sunday Times. In April, Kingston Technology Europe was ranked No. 18 on the “50 Best Workplaces in the UK 2004” list, compiled by the Great Place to Work® Europe Consortium in collaboration with the Financial Times. Also in April, Kingston Technology Europe won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade. Also in April, it received for the third consecutive year the “Computer Trade Shopper’s Memory Manufacturer of the Year”. In November,
- 2005 – Reported record revenue of $ 2.4 billion in 2004. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the leading manufacturer of memory modules for the third-party market for the second consecutive year. In May, it launched the line of validated ValueRam modules for Intel-based servers. In July, he obtained the US patent for the Dynamic Burn / In server memory test system. Kingston announced a $ 26 million investment in Tera Probe, the world’s most innovative and leading silicon sheet testing company. In September, Kingston opened the world’s largest memory module factory in Shanghai.
- 2006 – Re-broke records with revenue of $ 3 billion in 2005. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the leading manufacturer of memory modules for the third-party market for the third year in a row. In March, it introduced the first 100% secure private USB drive with 128-bit hardware encryption, and later with 256-bit hardware encryption. In April, it introduced the Fully-Buffered Dimm (FBDIMM) modules, which broke the 16 GiB barrier. In August, it entered the portable multimedia market with KPEX (Kingston Portable Entertainment eXperience). In September, he received the Intel Outstanding Supplier Award for Exceptional Support, Quality and Timely Delivery of FB-DIMM Products, which recognized excellence in FB-DIMM product support, quality, and deadline compliance.
- 2007 – Announced revenue of $ 3.7 billion in 2006, a figure that represents the highest turnover in its 20-year history. In January, Inc. Magazine presented the founders of Kingston Technology with the Inaugural Distinguished Alumni Goldhirsh Award.
