A Publication for Mostek Employees June 1979
Many technological firsts make Mostek MOS/LSI leader
When it was formed in 1969, the founders of Mostek Corporation could not see that a company engaged in the manufactuirng and marketing of Metal Oxide Semiconductors and Large Scale Integration (MOS/LSI) integrated circuits would be "a pretty good business."Pretty good might be the understatement of the century. Ten years later, the company has grown from an initial $400 order for a custom designed circuit, to 1978 sales of $134 million-worth of circuits and electronic sub-systems for computers, industrial controls and telecommunications.
Moreover, Mostek engineers are now recognized the world over as leaders in the advancement of electronic technology – a fact that has made the company grow from a tiny 15-employee electronics firm in Dallas to a hugh corporation with offices and representatives circling the globe.
THE EARLY YEARS
Technological advancement has been the key and underlying theme in the growth of Mostek.
The company helped pioneer ion-implantation techniques used in the manufacture of low threshold-voltage MOS circuits which, at the time, were unique in the world of electronics.
Mostek engineers "wrote the book" on the ion-implant process and soon electronic companies throughout the world began using Mostek techniques.
The company emerged as a leader in the semiconductor industry and continued to break new ground in proving the capabilities of MOS technology which was just coming out of the infant stages. In 1971, Mostek became the first company to produce a MOS circuit having enhancement and depletion transistors on the same chip. Company engineers also prodcued the world's first TTL-compatible 1024-bit Random Access Memory (RAM), and the first circuit that combined silicon gate and ion-implantation, depletion load processes.
While developing a product line that could be used by a large number of customers, the company built a solid reputation as a supplier of custom circuits which were designed for specific customer application. After Mostek sold its first custom ROM to Burroughs, the company designed circuits for many others including the Hammond Organ Company and Magnavox televisions.
"THE CHIP" (read the story of "The Chip")
It was while working with Nippon Calculating Machine Company on a custom circuit design for a calculator that Mostek engineers developed a product which helped open the doors of the huge consumer electronic market which flourishes today.
By developing a calculator circuit which fit on a single, tiny chip, Mostek forged the trail which led to the pocket calculator, the computerized game toys and the other handy uses which generally had been out of the reach of the consumer for many years.
Moreover, the dramatic breakthrough in MOS technology focused the eyes and ears of the electronic engineering world on the capabilities of Mostek circuit designers.
Not only did Mostek attract the attention of the electronic community, but they also attracted the attention of major consumers of MOS circuits and the company began an important relationship with HewlettPackard as the major supplier of integrated circuits for H-P's scientific calculators. Hewlett-Packard soon became Mostek's largest customer.
THE YEAR OF THE RAM
In order to insure the continued growth of the company, Mostek leaders set out to develop a standard line of products which could be used by more and more customers.
Mostek engineers began working to develop the next-generation 4096-bit dynamic RAM circuits.
But in this area they reached a crossroads. The choice had to be made to either follow the giants of the industry and produce products which would be compatible with their designs, or to strike out in a different direction and create a product that offered important and additional benefits. Mostek decided to lead rather than follow. The result was the 4096-bit RAM which featured multiplexed addresses that permitted spacesaving 16-pin packaging. The Mostek innovation reduced the size of 4K RAM memory boards by nearly half over other boards using 22-pin devices.
For over a year the industry seemed uncertain as to which design would eventually become standard. But as more and more customers endorsed Mostek's smaller 16-pin design, the "leaders" began to follow. The Mostek pin configuration became the industry standard, not only for 4K RAMS, but also for the 16K RAMS which followed and the next generation 64K RAMS.
The mid-70s also saw the company develop a telecommunications product line.
Mostek's initial success was the development of the MK5085 tone dialer, introduced in 1975. This first generation product evolved into the industry's most popular line of tone dialers and pulse dialers. Major telecommunication customers designed Mostek tone dialers into several high volume applications and Mostek's Telecommunications Department was off and running.
The impact of the microprocessor has been felt in all aspects of society and Mostek is also one of the major semiconductor companies involved in the development of the technology.
The company's first effort in this new field was the custom designed MK5065 for a European customer. The expertise gained from this program led to the highly successful F8 and Z80 products.
In 1977, Mostek took a giant leap forward with the MK3870 which eventually became the industry's most popular 8-bit single-chip microcomputer. Its development represented a major breakthrough in circuit design because it offered 2K bytes of ROM and 64 bytes of RAM on a single-chip complete microprocessor capability on a single-chip at a practical cost.
UPDATE
With the achievements of the mid-70's, Mostek had gathered momentum.
Its product base had become diverse and every computer manufacturer in the world was a customer for Mostek Memory Products. Meanwhile, the Microcomputer Department was successfully expanding its customer base and the Telecommunications department had firmly established a claim to leadership.
Mostek's early recognition for technology capability had grown to a consensus-the company was ranked as one of the top two companies in the world in MOS technology.
Because of the continued diversification, Memory Products split into two groups and began developing static RAMS, ROMs and PROMS. The Microcomputer Department also divided into Micro Components and Micro Systems, giving new emphasis to board-level systems as well as peripheral microcomputer components.
In 1977 a new department, Memory Systems, formed and began marketing and manufacturing add-in and add-on systems to users of popular existing minicomputers. This added more names to the growing Mostek customer list and, as a customer for Mostek memory circuits, Memory Systems allowed the company to sell products with added value and increase the penetration of Mostek Memory Products.
As the Mostek product line continued to grow, a great demand was placed on manufacturing and support operations.
Manufacturing capability was stretched to the limit and facility expansion received first priority. The company responded to those
needs by expanding the original corporate headquarters (Crosby I) to include a complete cafeteria and additional manufacturing space. Fabrication (FAB) areas 1, 2, and 3 were upgraded and the entire front of the building received a face lift.
At the same time the Southwest Building was under construction and ready for occupation in 1978. The 260,000 square foot building was designed from the ground up as a state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facility. The company's fourth FAB area and administrative offices were included in the building. A fifth FAB area is scheduled for completion in late 1979.
On the other side of the world, Mostek's assembly plant in Penang, Malaysia was also expanded to provide greater capacity. In Blanchardstown, Ireland, a new testing, assembly and fabrication facility is under development and, back home, plans for a fabrication area in Colorado Springs, Colorado were finalized in 1979.
Financially, the company passed the $100 million plateau in sates.
FUTURE
Mostek built its reputation and business by making advancements in technology and setting the pace for the rest of the electronic world. That's also the plan for the next 10 years.
To manufacture the next generation products during the 1980's facilities like Fab 5, complete with future-generation equipment, will be the first requirement. This new equipment is expensive and will cost several times the amount of equipment used to produce the first ROMs and calculator chips.
Next: Mostek Workforce