Kingston and the memory module business
David Sun's fortune comes from Kingston Technology, the privately held company he started with his longtime business partner John Tu in 1987. The two had just lost most of their savings in the stock market crash of October that year when they spotted a practical problem: a shortage of surface mount memory chips was making it hard for computer users to upgrade older machines. Kingston began by designing memory modules that used older, more readily available chips, and the business grew rapidly.
The company's core product, the memory module, is a small circuit board carrying DRAM chips that plugs into a computer. Kingston buys chips from the large semiconductor makers, designs and tests the modules, and sells them to computer makers, distributors and consumers. That position between chip producers and the end market turned out to be durable, because computer makers and users always need to add or replace memory.
In 1996 Sun and Tu sold a majority of Kingston to the Japanese group SoftBank. A few years later, after the dot-com boom had changed the value of many technology assets, they bought the stake back. Kingston has stayed private ever since, with the two founders as its owners, and its profits are the basis of Sun's wealth.
From DRAM to flash and gaming
Over time Kingston broadened its range well beyond memory upgrades. Its main product lines now include:
- DRAM modules for desktop computers, laptops and servers
- Flash storage, including USB drives, memory cards and solid state drives
- Embedded memory supplied to manufacturers of phones, cars and industrial devices
- Kingston FURY, a line of high performance memory aimed at gamers and enthusiasts
The company also built HyperX, a brand of gaming headsets, keyboards and other peripherals. In 2021 it sold the HyperX peripherals business to HP, while keeping its own high performance memory under a new name.
Kingston is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and has manufacturing and testing facilities in Asia as well as the United States. Because it is private, it does not publish detailed financial results, but it has been described for many years as one of the largest independent memory module makers in the world. The founders have consistently resisted the idea of listing the company on the stock market, saying it allows them to plan for the long term.
From Taiwan to Southern California
David Sun was born in Taiwan in 1951. He moved to the United States as a young man and studied there, then worked in the computer industry in Southern California, where many Taiwanese engineers and entrepreneurs were building businesses around the personal computer.
He met John Tu, who had also come to the United States from Taiwan, and in 1982 the pair founded Camintonn, a company that made memory upgrades and other computer products. They sold Camintonn to AST Research in 1986. The plan was to retire comfortably, but the money they made was largely lost in the 1987 crash. Rather than look for jobs, they started again, and within a few years Kingston was larger than their first company had been.
Sun has generally handled operations and engineering matters while Tu has been the more public face of the company, and the two have run Kingston together as equal partners for decades.
Employees, giving and a quiet profile
Sun and Tu became well known in the United States in 1996, when, after the SoftBank deal, they set aside a large part of the proceeds as bonuses for their employees. Stories of warehouse workers and receptionists receiving sums equal to several years of salary were widely reported, and the gesture has been cited ever since as an example of founders sharing a windfall with staff. Kingston has also been noted for a policy of avoiding layoffs during downturns and for long employee tenures.
The founders have supported a range of community, education and disaster relief causes, often through the company rather than under their own names. Kingston has made donations in Southern California and in places where it has factories.
Sun rarely gives interviews or appears at public events. He has said that he prefers to let the company's products speak for it, and he has lived for many years in Orange County, close to the company's headquarters.