computer science

Silicon Motion

Silicon Motion is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Silicon Motion rather than just read about it. In short: Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (SMI), stylized as SiliconMotion, is an American-Taiwanese company involved in developing NAND flash controller integrated circuits (ICs) for solid-state storage devices. The company has claimed to have supplied more NAND flash controllers than any other company, over five billion from 2006 through 2016.

Key takeaways

Silicon Motion belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Silicon Motion to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Silicon Motion from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (SMI), stylized as SiliconMotion, is an American-Taiwanese company involved in developing NAND flash controller integrated circuits (ICs) for solid-state storage devices. The company has claimed to have supplied more NAND flash controllers than any other company, over five billion from 2006 through 2016. They are found in commercial, enterprise, and industrial applications ranging from SSDs, eMMCs, memory cards, and USB flash drives. Silicon Motion purchased Shannon Systems which added PCI Express solid-state drives for the Chinese data center market to its portfolio. Controllers are marketed under the “SMI” brand, enterprise-grade SSDs under the "Shannon Systems" brand.

History Silicon Motion Technology Corporation was formed as the combination of Silicon Motion, Inc., which was established in 1995 in Silicon Valley in the United States, and Feiya Technology Corporation, which was founded in 1997 in Taipei, Taiwan. At the time, mobile graphic chips were the main product of Silicon Motion and NAND controllers were the main products of Feiya Technology Corporation. In 2002, Concord Asia Capital (now known as Concord Venture Capital Group), mediated the merger of the two companies which was completed in August 2002. In 2005, the combined company was renamed Silicon Motion Technology Corporation and began listing on the NASDAQ stock market under the SIMO ticker symbol.

November 1995: Silicon Motion was established in Silicon Valley, U.S.A. April 1997: Feiya Technology Corporation was established in Taipei, Taiwan. August 2002: Silicon Motion, Inc. was combined with Feiya Technology Corporation in Taiwan. The headquarters was located in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. June 2003: Silicon Motion was added to the stock listings of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). March 2005: The company decided to go public in the US. Silicon Motion Technology Corporation was established in the Cayman Islands, and transferred 100% of its stocks to its branch in Taiwan. The company terminated its application for an emerging stock transaction and withdrew the issuance of its stocks. April 2005: The company’s listing on the TWSE was terminated. June 2005: The company was listed on the NASDAQ stock market (Nasdaq: SIMO). April 2007: The company completed its acquisition of Future Communications IC, Inc. (FCI) for US$90 million. December 2012: The company received "2012 Best Financially Managed Company (<$500 million revenue) Award" presented by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). July 2015: The company completed its acquisition of Shannon Systems for US$57.5 million. December 2016: The company received "2016 Best Financially Managed Company (<$1 billion revenue) Award" presented by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). May 2019: The company announced that it has completed the sale of FCI, its Mobile Communications product line, to Dialog Semiconductor. May 2022: MaxLinear to acquire Silicon Motion. July 2023: MaxLinear scrapped the acquisition stating that Silicon Motion had failed to complete some of the acquisition closing conditions and suffered a "material adverse effect".

Products

Embedded storage products

SSD controllers eMMC controllers Ferroelectric storage Embedded flash controllers Enterprise/data center SSDs marketed under the Shannon brand Expandable storage products

Memory card controllers USB flash drive controllers Embedded graphics products

Embedded GPUs USB display controllers

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Silicon Motion

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Silicon Motion claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Silicon Motion before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Silicon Motion ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Silicon Motion

In research: Silicon Motion appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Silicon Motion in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Silicon Motion is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1995 establishments in California, Companies listed on the Nasdaq, Computer companies established in 1995, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Silicon Motion outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Silicon Motion in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Silicon Motion means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Silicon Motion out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Silicon Motion in simple terms?

Why does Silicon Motion matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Silicon Motion?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Silicon Motion.