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Kingston Technology history
Kingston Technology company history timeline
Since 1987, sales had increased 368 percent compounded annually.
However, Kingston remained the clear leader in the memory market, and in 1989 the company earned $36.5 million in sales.
In 1989, Kingston extended beyond memory products, entering the storage upgrade market.
The iconic symbol was created in 1992 by Fraser. It was based on the original advertising campaign of Kingston, which was launched in 1989.
The introduction of Windows 3.0 in 1990 gave sales a boost, as computers required more memory than what was contained within PCs.
1990 – Kingston branches out into its first non-memory product line: processor upgrades.
The demand for memory was spurred in 1991 by the rise of the memory-intensive workstation market, and Kingston created a special department to serve this market in 1991.
Competing with about 15 companies, Kingston held a 45 percent share of the computer memory market in 1992.
The iconic symbol was created in 1992 by Fraser.
In 1993, new networking and storage product lines were introduced.
Sales for 1993 were $433 million, and the number of employees grew to 255.
1993 – Kingston expands into networking and storage product lines.
When ISO 9000 (International Organization for Standardization) became the worldwide quality standard, Kingston immediately passed the test, attaining certification in September 1994 and successfully completing its first audit.
The billion-dollar mark began to feel reachable, as 1994 revenues climbed to $800 million due to the efforts of 310 employees.
By 1994, Kingston had developed nine separate processor upgrade products and a full line of portable products.
In 1994, Kingston hired its first chief financial officer, a former Wall Street investment banker named Henry Tchen, and issued security badges to employees.
When Microsoft introduced the Windows 95 operating system, in 1995, demand for Kingston's memory upgrades skyrocketed.
Expanding its worldwide distribution network, Kingston opened a branch office in Munich, Germany, in 1995.
Kingston joins the Billion-Dollar Club as the company’s 1995 sales exceed $1.3 billion.
Also in 1996, the company introduced the TurboChip 133 processor upgrade, which gave a 486 computer the power of a 75 megahertz Pentium chip, and three new plug-and-play Ethernet adapters.
In 1996, the price of DRAM dropped dramatically, forcing upgrade vendors to boost sales volume and enter new markets.
Taking analysts by surprise, in 1996 Kingston was acquired by Softbank Corporation, the world's largest publisher of computer-related magazines and books and the world's largest producer of technology-related trade shows and expositions.
The goal of the expansion was to achieve faster turnaround times and lower prices amid the plummeting price of memory, which had dropped 80 percent during 1996--97.
1997 – Kingston opens its European headquarters in the United Kingdom.
1998 – Kingston is ranked 2nd by Fortune Magazine in its list of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in the United States”.
1999 – In July, John Tu and David Sun buy back the 80 per cent of Kingston owned by Softbank for $450 million.
Forbes magazine lists Kingston as number 141 on its list of “The 500 Largest Private Companies in the US”. Kingston is listed with revenues of $1.5 billion for 1999.
Volume increased 41% in memory units shipped from 2007. iSuppli ranks Kingston as the world’s number one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market for a sixth consecutive year.
Kingston reports revenues of $4.0B for 2008.
Kingston reports revenues of $6.5B for 2010, the highest in company history. iSuppli ranks Kingston as the world’s number one memory module manufacturer for the third-party memory market with 46% market share in 2010, up from 40%. Kingston launches Wi-Drive Wireless storage products.
Kingston leads channel SSD shipments in 2019 as announced by research company Trendfocus.
Kingston encrypted high-performance SSDs named winners in 2020 GOVIES awards in the Encryption, Cyber Defense Solutions and Storage categories.
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Kingston Technology, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Kingston Technology. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Kingston Technology. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Kingston Technology. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Kingston Technology and its employees or that of Zippia.
Kingston Technology may also be known as or be related to Kingston, Kingston Technology, Kingston Technology Company Inc, Kingston Technology Corp. and Kingston Technology Corporation.