MoSys

MoSys, Inc.

Company type	Public
Industry	Semiconductor design
Predecessor	Monolithic System Technology (MoST)
Founded	September 16, 1991 (1991-09-16) in San Jose, California, United States
Founder	Fu-Chieh Hsu
Defunct	2021
Fate	Merged with Peraso Technologies to form Peraso Inc.
Headquarters	Sunnyvale , United States
Area served	Global
Key people	Fu-Chieh Hsu (Chairman and President until 2004), Wingyu Leung (VP Design Engineering), Gary Banta (VP Design Engineering), Mark Voll (CFO, later CEO)
Products	Multibank DRAM, 1T-SRAM, pipelined-burst static RAM chips, semiconductor IP licensing
Number of employees	76 (2005)

MoSys, Inc., initially known as Monolithic System Technology (MoST), was a semiconductor design firm without its own manufacturing facilities, established in 1991. The company specialized in memory solutions including Multibank DRAM and 1T-SRAM, the latter being utilized in Nintendo's Wii and GameCube gaming systems.

History

Founded on September 16, 1991, in San Jose, California, MoSys was co-established by Fu-Chieh Hsu, who held the roles of chairman and president until 2004. Other prominent executives featured Wingyu Leung and Gary Banta, both serving as vice presidents of design engineering. The founding group assembled a team of engineers drawn from firms such as Integrated Device Technology, ISSI, Rambus, and Plus Logic. By 1994, the company had secured $7.5 million through venture capital funding.

The firm's initial flagship product was Multibank DRAM (MDRAM), a type of specialized dynamic RAM introduced in 1994. MDRAM utilized a high-speed bus design capable of transferring 32-bit words per cycle with access times around 15 nanoseconds, significantly faster than the typical 60 nanoseconds of competing technologies. Although its proprietary interface limited compatibility with standard SIMM modules, MDRAM achieved design wins with companies including Tseng Labs, Trident Microsystems, and S3 Inc., reaching mass production by late 1994.

In 1998, MoSys expanded its portfolio by releasing pipelined-burst static RAM chips aimed at the laptop market and unveiled 1T-SRAM—a pseudo-static RAM technology that merges dynamic RAM cells with SRAM cache to provide SRAM-like speed without wait states. The term "1T" denotes the use of a single transistor per cell, a considerable reduction compared to conventional six-transistor SRAM cells. This advancement was regarded as a significant edge in memory technology.

Nintendo engaged MoSys in 1999 to supply 1T-SRAM for its Dolphin console (later renamed GameCube), with over 25 million units produced by 2002. An enhanced version called 1T-SRAM Classic was launched in 2006 and incorporated into Nintendo's Wii console as part of a renewed collaboration.

Beginning in 1998, MoSys began transitioning from direct chip sales to focusing on licensing its intellectual property to other semiconductor companies. The company re-established itself in Delaware in 2000 while continuing operations in California and moved its research and development team to Sunnyvale by 2001. That same year, MoSys went public through an initial public offering managed by A.G. Edwards, raising $51 million and experiencing strong stock performance amid renewed investor interest following the dot-com crash.

In 2004, Synopsys announced intentions to acquire MoSys for $432 million but withdrew from the agreement a month later, incurring a $10 million termination fee. Subsequent legal actions were initiated but ultimately dropped mid-year. Later that year, founder Fu-Chieh Hsu stepped down due to health concerns, with CFO Mark Voll taking over leadership responsibilities.

By the close of 2005, MoSys employed a total of 76 personnel—25 executives based in Delaware and 51 engineers located in Sunnyvale—and officially adopted the name MoSys in May 2006.

Entering the late 2010s, MoSys redirected its focus toward developing chips tailored for security, telecommunications, and data center markets. In December 2021, it merged with Peraso Technologies, a designer of millimeter-wave (mmWave) semiconductors, resulting in the formation of Peraso Inc., which broadened its global footprint and product offerings.

External links

• Archived official site as of December 5, 1998