verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message kingston technology corporation type private industry storage devices founded fountain valley california united states 1987 founder john tu david sun headquarters fountain valley california united states area served worldwide key people john tu president david sun coo products flash memory cards usb flash drives dram digital audio players sim cards solid state drives revenue us 6.5 billion 2015 1 number of employees 3 000 2015 1 website www.kingston.com kingston technology corporation is an american privately held multinational computer technology corporation that develops manufactures sells and supports flash memory products and other computer related memory products . headquartered in fountain valley california united states kingston technology employs more than 3 000 employees worldwide as of q1 2016 . the company has manufacturing and logistics facilities in the united states united kingdom ireland taiwan and mainland china . it is the largest independent producer of dram memory modules currently owning 59 % of the third party worldwide dram module market share according to ihs . 2 kingston is arguably the second largest supplier of flash memory . gartner ranks kingston as the world s 2 supplier of usb flash drives 2 in flash cards and 2 in pc based solid state drives . citation needed in 2015 kingston generated revenues of over us 7.0 billion . forbes lists kingston as 54 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. and 3 in the technology hardware & equipment category . citation needed kingston serves an international network of distributors resellers retailers and oem customers on six continents . the company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system oems . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 2000s 2 awards and recognition 3 hyperx sponsorship esports teams 4 products 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit kingston technology was founded on october 17 1987 in response to a severe shortage of 1mbit surface mount memory chips . in response taiwanese immigrants john tu designed a new single in line memory module simm that used readily available older technology through hole components . in 1990 following year the company branched out into its first non memory product line processor upgrades . by 1992 the firm was ranked 1 by inc. as the fastest growing privately held company in america . the company expanded into networking and storage product lines and introduced datatraveler and datapak portable products . in september 1994 kingston became iso 9000 certified on its first assessment attempt . kingston opened a branch office in munich germany when to provide technical support and marketing capabilities for its european distributors and customers . in october 1995 the company joined the billion dollar club . after the company s 1995 sales exceeded 1.3 billion ads ran thanking the employees thanks a billion with each individual employee name in the wall street journal the orange county register and the los angeles times . ads also appeared in trade publications and the wall street journal thanking the company s suppliers and distributors . on august 15 1996 softbank corporation of japan acquired 80 percent of kingston for a total of 1.8 billion . in november of the same year kingston and toshiba co marketed memory upgrades for toshiba pcs the first time that a pc oem and a memory manufacturer had teamed up to create a co branded module . in 1999 tu and sun eventually bought back the 80 percent of kingston owned by softbank for 450 million . on december 14 1996 john tu and david sun allocated 100 million for employee bonuses as a result of the acquisition averaging 130 000 for each of the company s 550 workers . 3 kingston announced a 49 % increase in unit sales for its memory module products in calendar year 1996 over calendar year 1995 . in january 1997 kingston opened its european headquarters in the united kingdom a manufacturing facility office in taiwan a sales office in japan and a manufacturing facility and offices in dublin ireland . the company also expanded its american manufacturing capacity by purchasing pc oem manufacturing buildings in fountain valley ca . kingston also introduced valueram which was a high quality low cost memory designed for system integrators to use in white box solutions . 2000s edit this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . march 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message kingston launched advanced validation labs inc. avl a sister company that provides memory validation services . kingston began manufacturing removable disk drive storage products in 1989 in their kingston storage products division . in 2000 it was decided to spin off the product line and become a sister company storcase technology inc. 4 storcase ceased operations in 2006 after selling the designs and rights to manufacture its products to competitor cru dataport . 5 in june of 2000 kingston announced a new supply chain management model to its memory manufacturing process . payton technology inc. was established to help support this new model . forbes listed kingston as number 141 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s with revenues of 1.5 billion for 1999 . in march 2001 kingston announced the formation of the consumer markets division cmd a new division focusing on the retail and e tail channel . in 2002 kingston launched a patented memory tester a new hyperx line of high performance memory modules and patented epoc chip stacking technology . in august kingston made a 50 million investment in elpida and launched a green initiative for module manufacturing . in 2004 kingston announced revenues of 1.8 b for 2003 . in september kingston announced new datatraveler elite usb drives with hardware based security encryption . in october advanced micro devices named kingston outstanding partner for contributions to the amd athlon 64 and opteron launches . kingston reported revenues of 2.4 b for 2004 . in may kingston launched a line of validated valueram modules for intel based servers . the company was later granted a u.s. patent on dynamic burn in tester for server memory . they also announced a 26m investment in tera probe the newest and largest wafer testing company in the world . they also opened the world s largest memory module manufacturing facility in shanghai china . in 2006 kingston reported revenues of 3.0 b for 2005 . in march kingston introduced the first fully secure 100 % privacy usb drive with 128 bit hardware encryption and later with 256 bit hardware encryption . the company also launched fully buffered dimms fbdimms which broke the 16gb barrier . the company entered the portable media market with kpex kingston portable entertainment experience . in 2007 kingston reported revenues of 3.7 b for 2006 . forbes listed kingston as number 83 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s . inc. ranked kingston as the 1 fastest growing private company by revenue . in 2008 kingston reported revenues of 4.5 b for 2007 . in august inc.com s top 100 inc. 5000 companies ranked kingston 2 in both gross dollars of growth and overall revenue . forbes lists kingston as number 79 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. in 2009 kingston reported revenues of 4.0 b for 2008 . volume increased 41 % in memory units shipped from 2007 . isuppli ranked kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market for the sixth consecutive year . in august inc.com s top 100 inc. 5000 companies ranked kingston 5 in private companies by revenue and number 1 in the computer hardware category . in october forbes listed kingston as number 97 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. in 2010 kingston reported revenues of 4.1 b for 2009 . isuppli ranked kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market with 40.3 % market share up from 32.8 % in 2008 and 27.5 % in 2007 . in august inc.com s top 100 inc. 5000 companies ranked kingston 6 in private companies by revenue and number 1 in the computer hardware category . in november forbes listed kingston as number 77 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. in 2011 kingston reported revenues of 6.5 b for 2010 . isuppli ranked kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market with 46 % market share . kingston also launched the wi drive line of wireless storage products . forbes ranked kingston as the 51st largest private company in the us up from 77 . inc. ranked kingston 4 by revenue in the top 100 companies and 1 in computer hardware category . gartner research ranked kingston as the 1 usb drive manufacturer in the world . in 2012 kingston celebrated 25 years in the memory business . isuppli ranked kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market for the 9th consecutive year . kingston celebrated 10 years of hyperx gaming memory . kingston releases hyperx branded ssd drives and releases the first windows to go usb drive . forbes lists kingston as 48 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. gartner research ranked kingston 1 usb manufacturer in the world . in 2013 kingston ships its fastest world s largest capacity usb 3.0 flash drive with datatraveler hyperx predator 3.0 available up to 1 tb . kingston launches the mobilelite wireless reader line of storage products for smartphones and tablets . isuppli ranks kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market for the 10th consecutive year . gartner research ranks kingston the no. 1 usb flash drive manufacturer in the world for the 6th straight year . forbes lists kingston as 94 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. in 2014 kingston hyperx released the fury memory line for entry level overclocking and gaming enthusiasts . hyperx then launched a maximum comfort superior sound cloud gaming headset . isuppli ihs ranks kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market for the 11th consecutive year . hyperx sets ddr3 overclocking world record mark at 4620mhz using one 4gb hyperx predator 2933mhz ddr3 module . kingston ships m. 2 sata ssds for new notebook platforms small form factor devices and z97 motherboards . kingston releases mobilelite wireless g2 the second generation media streamer for smartphones and tablets . hyperx demos ddr4 memory at pax prime allowing for faster speeds at a lower voltage . forbes lists kingston as 69 on its list of the 500 largest private companies in the u.s. in 2015 ihs ranks kingston as the world s number one memory module manufacturer for the third party memory market for the 12th consecutive year . in january hyperx reclaimed the top ddr4 overclocking mark in the world at 4351mhz . hyperx launches high performance pcie ssd with the highest end ssd with the fastest speeds in the hyperx lineup . hyperx releases enhanced cloud ii gaming headset with usb sound card audio control box and virtual 7.1 surround sound . hyperx creates the world s fastest ddr4 128gb memory kit running at an astoundingly fast 3000mhz with hyperx predator modules with ultra tight timings . gartner ranks kingston as the 2 aftermarket pc