Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of digital memory products. The company was founded by John Tu and David Sun in 1987 and is headquartered in California.
The company’s revolutionary Single In-Line Memory Module (SIMM) helped launch its initial success and set a new industry standard. Kingston then expanded into non-memory products, such as processor upgrades and networking, in the 1990s.
In 1996, the company sold 80 per cent of its shares to the Japan-based Softbank Corporation for $1.5 billion and made the unprecedented decision to earmark $100 million for employee bonuses. Kingston reacquired its shares from Softbank in 1999.
International production expansion continued throughout the 1990s. In 2005, Kingston opened the world’s largest memory module manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. In 2007, the company introduced the first fully-secure USB drive with 128-bit encryption.
In 2015, Kingston was ranked as the world’s number one third-party memory module manufacturer for the 12th consecutive year. Today, Kingston generates over $7 billion in revenue and is ranked 53 on Forbes list of America’s Largest Private Companies.
- Family name: Tu and Sun families
- Sector: Technology
- Founded: 1987
- Founders: John Tu and David Sun
- Country: United States
- Company headquarters: California
- CEO: John Tu
- Revenue: US$6.6 billion
- Family ownership: 100%
- Employees: 3,000
- Website: https://www.kingston.com/en
