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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsTSMC, NEC and Analog Devices (ADI) were the first MoSys 1T-SRAM licensees named together in contemporaneous reporting from March 1999. The available record does not establish which company signed first. TSMC separately announced its agreement with MoSys on March 1, 1999; an EE Times report the next day identified TSMC, NEC and ADI as companies that had already entered licensing agreements.
What the historical record establishes
The strongest precise wording is “first named licensees” or “among the first reported licensees.” A March 2, 1999 EE Times report grouped TSMC, NEC and Analog Devices as MoSys licensees. That report is the direct contemporaneous basis for naming all three together.
TSMC’s own announcement, issued March 1, 1999, confirms an agreement with MoSys. It did not, by itself, establish the relative signing order of TSMC, NEC and ADI. A filed MoSys–NEC agreement took effect on December 17, 1999, confirming a licensing relationship by that date but not proving that NEC signed before either TSMC or ADI.
A September 3, 1999 EE Times report about Nintendo’s planned Dolphin console again referred to agreements with the same three chip makers. The headline was “Nintendo to use Mosys’ 1-transistor SRAM”; the report is available at EE Times.
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What each licensee relationship involved
TSMC
Under the March 1 announcement, TSMC planned to give its customer-owned tooling (COT) customers access to MoSys embedded 1T-SRAM. TSMC and MoSys said they would port, market and distribute the technology for TSMC pure-logic and embedded-DRAM customers.
The cores had been designed and verified on TSMC’s 0.25-micron logic process. Licensing was expected in the second quarter of 1999. On October 11, 1999, TSMC said it had fabricated a 2-Mbit MoSys 1T-SRAM core on that process and that the cores were available for license.
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“We are excited to be the first foundry to work with MoSys in verifying this very dense memory architecture in a standard logic process.” — Roger Fisher, TSMC senior director of corporate marketing, October 11, 1999
NEC
NEC was one of the three companies named in the March 1999 EE Times report. The later agreement that took effect on December 17, 1999 covered development and licensing for high-density 1T-SRAM, including a stand-alone memory product NEC would build.
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Analog Devices (ADI)
Analog Devices, commonly abbreviated ADI, was the third company identified in the contemporaneous grouping. The available material establishes that ADI was reported as a MoSys licensee in March 1999, but does not provide a separate contract date or describe a specific ADI product.
What 1T-SRAM was
1T-SRAM was MoSys intellectual property for semiconductor designs, especially embedded memory. Its storage cell used a single transistor rather than the six-transistor cell used in conventional SRAM. MoSys presented the architecture as a way to obtain DRAM-like density while preserving the refresh-free interface and low-latency random access associated with SRAM.
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The technology was intended for implementation in pure-logic or embedded-memory processes. It was therefore a licensable memory core for chip makers and foundry customers, not a consumer memory card or a standalone retail module.
1999 vendor claims about density, area and power
The March 1999 MoSys–TSMC announcement reported the following figures. They are company claims from that announcement, repeated by contemporaneous EE Times coverage—not independent benchmark results.
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| Claim | Qualification |
|---|---|
| Capacity | Up to 128 Mbits, according to MoSys and TSMC’s 1999 announcement |
| Core area | As little as one-ninth the area of conventional six-transistor SRAM cores, according to the same announcement |
| Power | One-quarter of conventional SRAM power consumption, according to the same announcement |
These figures describe the proposition MoSys and TSMC were marketing in 1999. They should not be treated as current process specifications or as independently measured results.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How 1T-SRAM was positioned against other embedded memories
| Characteristic | Conventional six-transistor SRAM | 1T-SRAM | Embedded DRAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cell approach | Six-transistor SRAM cell | Single-transistor storage cell marketed by MoSys | DRAM-style storage integrated into a logic process |
| Density and area | Lower density and larger cell area than the 1T-SRAM claims in the 1999 materials | Marketed as high density; the announcement claimed as little as one-ninth the area of conventional SRAM cores | Generally valued for high density, with process-integration trade-offs |
| Interface and access | Refresh-free SRAM interface and random access | Designed to retain a refresh-free SRAM-like interface and low-latency random access | DRAM-style storage, with integration and access behavior depending on implementation |
| Power | Baseline for the 1999 comparison | The announcement claimed one-quarter of conventional SRAM power | Varies by design and process; no directly comparable figure is established here |
| Process use | Common in logic designs but consumes substantial silicon area | MoSys and TSMC said it could be implemented in pure-logic or embedded-memory processes | Requires a process that supports the embedded-DRAM approach |
Timeline of the licensee story
- March 1, 1999: TSMC and MoSys announced an agreement giving TSMC COT customers access to embedded 1T-SRAM. The companies described porting, marketing and distribution plans for TSMC customers.
- March 2, 1999: EE Times reported that MoSys had announced licensing agreements with TSMC, NEC and Analog Devices.
- September 3, 1999: An EE Times report on Nintendo’s planned Dolphin console again referred to agreements with those three chip makers.
- October 11, 1999: TSMC announced a fabricated 2-Mbit MoSys 1T-SRAM core on its 0.25-micron logic process and said the cores were available for license.
- December 17, 1999: A MoSys–NEC license agreement took effect, covering development, licensing and a planned NEC stand-alone memory product.
What happened to the technology later
MoSys’s 2005 annual report said the company had ceased shipments of its 1T-SRAM memory chips in 2004 and did not expect to make or sell such chips in the future. The filing described a business centered on technology licensing, customized memory designs, support and royalties.
That historical filing does not establish who currently owns, controls or can license the intellectual property, nor does it show that 1T-SRAM is available as a current commercial memory option. The evidence supports a 1999 licensing history, not a present-day product recommendation.
Bottom line
NEC, ADI and TSMC are best described as MoSys’s first named 1T-SRAM licensees in contemporaneous 1999 reporting. TSMC’s March 1 announcement documents its agreement and later process demonstration; the record confirms NEC’s agreement by December 17, 1999. It does not reveal the exact order in which the three contracts were signed.
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