Ross Technology
| Company type | Subsidiary (later public company) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductor |
| Founded | August 1, 1988 in Austin, Texas, United States |
| Founder | Dr. Roger D. Ross |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Fate | Ceased operations; assets and patents acquired by Fujitsu Ltd. |
| Successor | BridgePoint (for inventory and customer support) |
| Headquarters | Austin , United States |
Area served | Worldwide (semiconductor industry) |
Key people | Roger D. Ross (Founder, Chairman) |
| Products | SPARC microprocessors (including hyperSPARC) |
| Owner | Fujitsu (majority owner after 1993) |
| Parent | Cypress Semiconductor (initially), later Fujitsu |
Ross Technology, Inc. was a company focused on designing and producing semiconductor devices, particularly SPARC microprocessors. Established in Austin, Texas, in August 1988 by Dr. Roger D. Ross, a distinguished computer scientist known for leading Motorola's Advanced Microprocessor Division and contributing to the development of the MC68030 and the RISC-based 88000 microprocessor lines.
Dr. Ross assembled a team of experienced engineers from Motorola’s High-end Microprocessor Division who had worked on the 88000 project, including Carl Dobbs, Janet Sooch, Steve Goldstein, and Travor Smith. Later additions to the team included Raju Vegesna, an engineer with expertise in the Am29000 from AMD.
The company’s initial capital was provided by Cypress Semiconductor. The founding board consisted of Dr. Ross, Dr. T. J. Rodgers from Cypress Semiconductor, John Doerr representing Kleiner Perkins Venture Capital, and L. J. Sevin of Sevin Rosen Venture Capital, who took on the role of board chairman. Eventually, Ross became a subsidiary under Cypress.
Legal Disputes
In September 1988, Motorola initiated legal action against Ross Technology, accusing former Motorola employees of possessing confidential marketing materials and technical information related to the 68000 and 88000 microprocessors. Motorola sought a temporary restraining order along with $8 million in damages and proposed a settlement contingent on the employees refraining from working on contemporary computer architectures for 18 months. The injunction was lifted after Ross’ staff agreed to protect proprietary information. The lawsuit concluded in October with terms favorable to Ross.
Mid-October saw AMD file a lawsuit concerning the recruitment of Raju Vegesna, who had been involved in designing the Am29000 processor. The conflict was resolved later that month, granting AMD restricted rights to review Ross’ RISC-related designs.
Initial Product Offerings
Ross Technology’s first products centered around SPARC chipsets. On April 23, 1990, Cypress announced the CY7C611 microprocessor developed by Ross for embedded system applications. Subsequently, Cypress commissioned Ross to create the Pinnacle microprocessor—a superscalar SPARC intended to rival Sun Microsystems’ and Texas Instruments’ SuperSPARC processors. In May 1993, this Pinnacle design was introduced as the hyperSPARC microprocessor.
Developments Following hyperSPARC
Cypress had placed significant hopes on hyperSPARC's success and threatened to shift away from SPARC architecture toward Digital Equipment Corporation's Alpha if Sun Microsystems did not endorse their design. Despite assertions that International Computers Limited and Meiko Scientific were major adopters, hyperSPARC found only limited acceptance among a handful of smaller vendors. Persistent delays in design and manufacturing at Cypress contributed to its modest market penetration.
Due to hyperSPARC’s failure to secure substantial customers, Cypress sold Ross to Fujitsu for $23 million on May 12, 1993. Fujitsu primarily valued Ross for its hyperSPARC technology, which it regarded as competitive within the market. At that time, Fujitsu’s SPARC operations were concentrated on embedded solutions after an unsuccessful attempt in the early 1990s to enter high-end SPARC processors. After receiving regulatory approval, Fujitsu replaced nearly all board members except Dr. Ross, who assumed the position of chairman.
Ross Technology went public on November 7, 1995 through Robertson Stephens & Company; Fujitsu maintained majority ownership and control over the board. Sun Microsystems acquired a 10% shareholding and appointed a director to the board.
In February 1996, Ross established Ross Microcomputer in Sonoma, California aimed at value-added resellers (VARs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), offering workstations and servers. Their inaugural product—the hyperStation—was launched in June 1996 utilizing hyperSPARC processors.
Sun introduced its 64-bit UltraSPARC microprocessor in 1995. As the leading SPARC provider, Sun’s introduction prompted industry-wide migration toward 64-bit SPARC processors, resulting in diminished demand for 32-bit processors where Ross operated.
Ross faced competitive challenges without a 64-bit processor offering. Alongside expenses related to launching Ross Microcomputer, this led to financial losses. To address this gap, Ross initiated development of a 64-bit microprocessor named Viper, initially financed by Fujitsu which also extended a loan to support ongoing operations.
During this period, Ross’s stock price declined sharply; NASDAQ issued several warnings about potential delisting in 1997 before ultimately failing to meet listing criteria in 1998.
By April 1998, confronted with financial difficulties and no acquisition prospects, Ross’ board resolved to cease company operations. A new entity called BridgePoint was formed to handle remaining inventory and provide customer support. Consequently, Ross Technology shut down in 1998 with all assets and patents transferring to Fujitsu Ltd.
Legacy
Ross significantly influenced the hardware landscape of Sun's SPARC-based platforms, playing a pivotal role in shaping the MBus architecture. The Pinnacle series, built on the Ross 605 processor, allowed Sun servers to expand into the dual- and quad-processor sectors, moving beyond their earlier single-CPU models.
Originally competing with Sun's own SPARC designs, Ross's hyperSPARC processor was ultimately embraced by Sun and marketed as both system components and upgrade options. A notable instance of this collaboration was when a company-wide upgrade to Ross hyperSPARC processors enabled Steve Jobs' Pixar to meet the production deadline for the animated feature Toy Story, overcoming performance constraints posed by existing Sun Microsystems hardware.
See also
References