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Kingston Technology Corporation

Sign at top of Fountain Valley headquarters, pictured in 2007
Type	Private
Industry	Storage devices
Founded	1987; 37 years ago (1987) in Fountain Valley, California, United States
Founders	John Tu David Sun
Headquarters	Fountain Valley, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	John Tu (President) David Sun (COO)
Products	Flash memory cards USB flash drives DIMMs Digital Audio Players SIM cards Solid-state drives
Revenue	US$12.8 billion (2020)
Number of employees	3,000 (2015)

Kingston Technology Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, sells and supports flash memory products, other computer-related memory products, as well as the HyperX gaming division (now owned by HP). Headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, United States, Kingston Technology employs more than 3,000 employees worldwide as of Q1 2016. The company has manufacturing and logistics facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Taiwan, and China.

It is the largest independent producer of DRAM memory modules, owning approximately 68% of the third-party worldwide DRAM module market share in 2017, according to DRAMeXchange. In 2018 the company generated $7.5 billion in revenue and made #53 on the Forbes Lists of "America's Largest Private Companies 2019." Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.

History
- 2000s
Awards and recognition
Products
See also

History

Kingston Technology was founded on October 17, 1987, in response to a severe shortage of 1Mbit surface-mount memory chips, Chinese immigrant John Tu designed a new single in-line memory module (SIMM) that used readily available, older-technology through-hole components. In 1990 the company branched out into its first non-memory product line, processor upgrades. By 1992, the firm was ranked #1 by Inc. as the fastest-growing privately held company in America. The company expanded into networking and storage product lines, and introduced DataTraveler and DataPak portable products. In September 1994, Kingston became ISO 9000 certified on its first assessment attempt.

In 1995, Kingston opened a branch office in Munich, Germany to provide technical support and marketing capabilities for its European distributors and customers.

In October 1995, the company joined the "Billion-Dollar Club". After the company's 1995 sales exceeded $1.3 billion, ads ran thanking the employees ("Thanks a Billion!") with each individual employee-name in The Wall Street Journal, The Orange County Register and The Los Angeles Times. Ads also appeared in trade publications and The Wall Street Journal thanking the company's suppliers and distributors.

On August 15, 1996 SoftBank Corporation of Japan acquired 80 percent of Kingston for a total of $1.8 billion. In November of the same year, Kingston and Toshiba co-marketed memory upgrades for Toshiba PCs - the first time that a PC OEM and a memory manufacturer had teamed up to create a co-branded module. In 1999, Tu and Sun eventually bought back the 80 percent of Kingston owned by Softbank for $450 million.

On December 14, 1996 John Tu and David Sun allocated $71.5 million for employee bonuses as a result of the acquisition, averaging $130,000 for each of the company's 550 workers. Kingston announced a 49% increase in unit sales for its memory module products in calendar year 1996 over calendar year 1995.

In 1996, Kingston opened its European headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

In January 1997, Kingston opened a manufacturing facility/office in Taiwan, a sales office in Japan, and a manufacturing facility and offices in Dublin, Ireland. The company also expanded its American manufacturing capacity by purchasing PC-OEM manufacturing buildings in Fountain Valley, California. Kingston also introduced ValueRAM, which was a high-quality, low-cost memory designed for system integrators to use in white box systems.

In 1999, Kingston launched Advanced Validation Labs, Inc. (AVL), a sister company that provides memory validation services.

2000s

Kingston began manufacturing removable disk drive storage products in 1989 in their Kingston Storage Products Division. By 2000, it was decided to spin off the product line and become a sister company, StorCase Technology, Inc. StorCase ceased operations in 2006 after selling the designs and rights to manufacture its products to competitor CRU-DataPort.

In June 2000, Kingston announced a new supply chain management model to its memory manufacturing process. Payton Technology Inc. was established to help support this new model.

Forbes listed Kingston as number 141 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S," with revenues of $1.5 billion for 1999.

In March 2001, Kingston announced the formation of the Consumer Markets Division (CMD), a new division focusing on the retail and e-tail channel.

In 2002 Kingston launched a patented memory tester and a new HyperX line of high-performance memory modules, and also patented EPOC chip-stacking technology. In August of that year, Kingston made a $50 million investment in Elpida and launched a green initiative for module manufacturing.

In 2004, Kingston announced revenues of $1.8B for 2003. In September, Kingston announced new DataTraveler Elite USB drives, with hardware-based security encryption. In October, Advanced Micro Devices named Kingston "Outstanding Partner" for contributions to the AMD Athlon 64 and Opteron launches. Kingston reported revenues of $2.4B for 2004. In May, Kingston launched a line of validated ValueRam modules for Intel-based servers. The company was later granted a U.S. patent on dynamic burn-in tester for server memory. They also announced a $26M investment in Tera Probe, the newest and largest wafer testing company in the world. They also opened the world's largest memory module manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. In 2006, Kingston reported revenues of $3.0B for 2005. In March, Kingston introduced the first fully secure 100% privacy USB drive with 128-bit hardware encryption, and later with 256-bit hardware encryption. The company also launched Fully Buffered Dimms (FBDIMMs), which broke the 16 GB barrier. The company entered the portable media market with KPEX (Kingston Portable Entertainment eXperience).

In 2007, Kingston reported revenues of $3.7B for 2006. Forbes listed Kingston as #83 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S". Inc. ranked Kingston as the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company By Revenue.

In 2008, Kingston reported revenues of $4.5B for 2007. In August, Inc.com's "Top 100 Inc. 5000 Companies" ranked Kingston #2 in both Gross Dollars of Growth and Overall Revenue. Forbes lists Kingston as number 79 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2009, Kingston reported revenues of $4.0B for 2008. Volume increased 41% in memory units shipped from 2007. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for the sixth consecutive year. In August, Inc.com's "Top 100 Inc. 5000 Companies" ranked Kingston #5 in Private Companies by Revenue and number 1 in the computer hardware category. In October, Forbes listed Kingston as number 97 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2010, Kingston reported revenues of $4.1B for 2009. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market with 40.3% market share, up from 32.8% in 2008 and 27.5% in 2007. In August, Inc.com's "Top 100 Inc. 5000 Companies" ranked Kingston #6 in Private Companies by Revenue and number 1 in the computer hardware category. In November, Forbes listed Kingston as number 77 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2011, Kingston reported revenues of $6.5B for 2010. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market, with 46% market share. Kingston also launched the Wi-Drive line of wireless storage products. Forbes ranked Kingston as the 51st largest private company in the US, up from #77. Inc. ranked Kingston #4 by revenue in the top 100 companies and #1 in computer hardware category. Gartner Research ranked Kingston as the #1 USB drive manufacturer in the world.

In 2012, Kingston celebrated 25 years in the memory business. iSuppli ranked Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for the 9th consecutive year. Kingston celebrated 10 years of HyperX gaming memory. Kingston releases HyperX branded SSD drives and releases the first Windows to Go USB drive. Forbes lists Kingston as #48 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S." Gartner Research ranked Kingston #1 USB manufacturer in the world.

In 2013, Kingston ships its fastest, world's largest-capacity USB 3.0 Flash Drive with DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0, available up to 1 TB. Kingston launches the MobileLite Wireless reader line of storage products for smartphones and tablets. iSuppli ranks Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for the 10th consecutive year. Gartner Research ranks Kingston the no. 1 USB Flash drive manufacturer in the world for the 6th straight year. Forbes lists Kingston as #94 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2014, Kingston HyperX released the FURY memory line for entry-level overclocking and game enthusiasts. HyperX then released its Cloud headset. iSuppli (IHS) ranks Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for the 11th consecutive year. HyperX sets DDR3 overclocking world record mark at 4620 MHz, using one 4 GB HyperX Predator 2933 MHz DDR3 module. Kingston ships M.2 SATA SSDs for new notebook platforms, small-form factor devices and Z97 motherboards. Kingston releases MobileLite Wireless G2, the second generation media streamer for smartphones and tablets. HyperX demos DDR4 memory at PAX Prime, allowing for faster speeds at a lower voltage. Forbes lists Kingston as #69 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2015, IHS ranks Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for the 12th consecutive year. In January, HyperX reclaimed the top DDR4 overclocking mark in the world at 4351 MHz. HyperX Launches High-Performance PCIe SSD with the highest-end SSD with the fastest speeds in the HyperX lineup. HyperX released the enhanced Cloud II headset with USB sound card audio control box and virtual 7.1 Surround Sound. HyperX creates the world's fastest DDR4 128GB memory kit running at an astoundingly fast 3000 MHz with HyperX Predator modules with ultra-tight timings. Gartner ranks Kingston as the #2 aftermarket PC SSD manufacturer in the world for 2014. Forbes lists Kingston as #54 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

In 2016, Kingston Digital, the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, acquired the USB technology and assets of IronKey from Imation Corp. Forbes lists Kingston as #51 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S."

Kingston Technology sold HyperX to HP Inc. in June 2021 for $425 million. The deal only includes computer peripherals branded as HyperX, not memory or storage. Kingston retains ownership of the memory and storage products, which it has rebranded as Kingston FURY.

Awards and recognition

iSuppli (IHS) has ranked Kingston as the world's number-one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for 12 consecutive years, the most recent being in June 2015. In 2007, Inc. awarded Kingston Technology's founders with the Inaugural Distinguished Alumni Goldhirsh Award. In September 2006, Kingston received Intel's "Outstanding Supplier Award for Exceptional Support, Quality and Timely Delivery of FB-DIMM Products". In April 2003 Kingston received the "Diverse Supplier Award for Best Overall Performance" from Dell. It was also honored for "Excellence in Fairness" by the Great Place to Work Institute. The company also appeared on Fortune's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" for five consecutive years (1998–2002). In 2001, it was listed by IndustryWeek as a "Top 5 Global Manufacturing Company". Forbes ranks Kingston as number 51 on its list of America's Largest Private Companies. The HyperX line of products is used by over 20% of professional gamers.

Products

Computer - System Specific memory upgrades, ValueRam for system builders and OEMs
Digital audio players - K-PEX 100, Mini-Secure Digital, Micro-Secure Digital, MMC
Flash memory - Such as Secure Digital, Compact Flash, USB Flash Drives, Solid-state drives and various other form factors
Mobile phones - Mini-Secure Digital, Micro-Secure Digital, MMC
Printer - LaserJet memory, Lexmark printer memory, etc.
Server - Memory for both branded (i.e. IBM, HP, etc.) and white box servers (ValueRAM, Server Premier)
Wireless storage products - Wi-Drive wireless storage and MobileLite Wireless readers