X-Nico

7 unusual facts about National Semiconductor


Larry Sonsini

Sonsini started out counseling semiconductor companies including Cypress Semiconductor, National Semiconductor and LSI Logic.

MK14

It used a National Semiconductor SC/MP CPU (INS8060), 256 bytes of random access memory (RAM) which was directly expandable to 640 bytes on board and 2170 bytes total.

PC532

The PC532 was a "home-brew" microcomputer design created by George Scolaro and Dave Rand in 1989-90, based around the National Semiconductor NS32532 microprocessor (a member of the NS320xx series).

Sequent Computer Systems

The Balance 21000 included up to thirty 10 MHz National Semiconductor NS32032 processors (in multiples of 2), each with a small write-through cache connected to a common memory to form a shared memory system.

Synchronous Data Link Control

Other vendors putting hardware support for SDLC (and the slightly different HDLC) into communication controller chips of the 1980s included Intel, Zilog, Motorola, and National Semiconductor.

Tower Semiconductor

Tower Semiconductor company started out as a manufacturing plant for National Semiconductor in Migdal Haemek, Israel.

The plant was established by the initiative of Israel engineer Dr. Giora Yaron, who began working as a physicist at the head office of National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California in 1979, and persuaded the management to invest in Israel.


Ellen Hancock

In September 1995 she started with National Semiconductor as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), after being lured from IBM by Gil Amelio.

Farnell element14

Farnell element14 stocks over 600,000 products from over 3,500 suppliers including Vishay, TE Connectivity, Molex, Microchip, National Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, EPCOS, KEMET, Altera, Omron, Bridgelux, Texas Instruments, and Panasonic.

Instrumentation amplifier

Instrumentation amplifiers can be built with individual op-amps and precision resistors, but are also available in integrated circuit form from several manufacturers (including Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, Analog Devices, Linear Technology and Maxim Integrated Products).

Texas Instruments TMS9900

Unlike other 16-bit microprocessors such as the National Semiconductor IMP-16 or DEC LSI-11, some of which predated the TMS9900, the latter was a single-chip, self-contained 16-bit microprocessor.


see also

IMP-16

The IMP-16 was later superseded by National Semiconductor's PACE and INS8900 single-chip 16-bit microprocessors, which had a similar architecture but were not binary compatible.

International Obfuscated C Code Contest

The IOCCC was started by Landon Curt Noll and Larry Bassel in 1984 while employed at National Semiconductor's Genix porting group.

Photronics Inc

Ltd., Freescale Semiconductor, Global Foundries, HannStar Display Corp., IM Flash Technologies, Inotera Memories, Jenoptik AG, LG Electronics, Magnachip Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Nanya Technology Corporation, National Semiconductor Corporation, Novatek Microelectronics Corp., ON Semiconductor Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, United Microelectronics Corp.