Editing Inmos

{{short description|Former British company}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox company
|name       = Inmos Limited
|logo       = Inmos logo.svg
|type       = [[Private company|Private]]
|fate       = Acquired by [[SGS-Thomson]] (1989)
|foundation = [[Bristol]], United Kingdom, ({{Start date|1978}})
|founders   = Iann Barron, Richard Petritz, Paul Schroeder
|industry   = [[Semiconductor device|Semiconductors]]
|products   = [[transputer]]
}}
'''Inmos International plc''' (trademark '''INMOS''') and two operating subsidiaries, Inmos Limited (UK) and Inmos Corporation (US), was a British [[semiconductor device|semiconductor]] company founded by [[Iann Barron]], Richard Petritz, and Paul Schroeder in July 1978. Inmos Limited’s head office and design office were at [[Aztec West]] business park in [[Bristol]], England.

==Products==
[[File:Tranputer 83.jpg|thumb|Various Inmos ICs]]
Inmos' first products were [[static RAM]] devices, followed by [[dynamic RAM]]s and [[EEPROM]]s. Despite early production difficulties, Inmos eventually captured around 60% of the world SRAM market. However, Barron's long-term aim was to produce an innovative [[microprocessor]] architecture intended for [[Parallel computing|parallel processing]], the ''[[transputer]]''. [[David May (computer scientist)|David May]] and Robert Milne were recruited to design this processor, which went into production in 1985 in the form of the T212 and T414 chips.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-02-07 |date=2010-10-04 |title=50 years in electronics: Hall of Fame |publisher=electronicsweekly.com |url=https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/finance/50-years-in-electronics-hall-of-fame-2010-10/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-02-07 |date=2022-03-31 |title=Revisiting the INMOS Transputer |publisher=rs-online.com |url=https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/revisiting-the-inmos-transputer}}</ref>

The transputer achieved some success as the basis for several parallel [[supercomputer]]s from companies such as [[Meiko Scientific|Meiko]] (formed by ex-Inmos employees in 1985), [[Floating Point Systems]], [[Parsytec]] and Parsys. It was used in a few workstations, the most notable probably being the [[Atari Transputer Workstation]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-02-07 |date=1987-11-01 |title=ATARI LAUNCHES TRANSPUTER-BASED STATION, UNIX MICRO TODAY |publisher=techmonitor.ai |url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/atari_launches_transputer_based_station_unix_micro_today}}</ref> Being a relatively self-contained design, it was also used in some [[embedded systems]]. However, the unconventional nature of the transputer and its native [[occam programming language]] limited its appeal. During the late 1980s, the transputer (even in its later T800 form) also struggled to keep up with the ever-increasing performance of its competitors.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-02-07 |date= |title=Supercomputing with Transputers - Past, Present and Future |publisher=dl.acm.org |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/77726.255192}}</ref>

Other devices produced by Inmos included the A100, A110 and A121 [[digital signal processor]]s, [[G364 framebuffer]], and a line of video [[RAMDAC]]s, including the G170<ref name="practicalcomputing198510">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/PracticalComputing1985October10/page/n28/mode/1up | title=Rally to the Colours | work=Practical Computing | last1=Coles | first1=Ray | date=October 1985 | access-date=26 March 2021 | pages=29 }}</ref> and G171, which was adopted by [[IBM]] for the original [[VGA]] [[graphics adapter]] used in the [[IBM PS/2]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-02-07 |date= |title=IBM PS/2 Model 25 |publisher=dosady.co.uk |url=https://www.dosdays.co.uk/computers/IBM%20PS2%20Model%2025/ibm_ps2_model_25.php}}</ref>

==Business history==
The company was founded by [[Iann Barron]], a British computer consultant, Richard Petritz and Paul Schroeder, both American semiconductor industry veterans. Initial funding of £50 million was provided by the UK government via the [[National Enterprise Board]]. A [[United States|US]] subsidiary, Inmos Corporation, was also established in [[Colorado]]. [[Semiconductor fabrication]] facilities were built in the US at [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]] and in the UK at [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], [[South Wales]].

Under the [[privatization]] policy of [[Margaret Thatcher]] the National Enterprise Board was merged into the [[BTG plc|British Technology Group]] and had to sell its shares in Inmos. Offers for Inmos from [[American Telephone & Telegraph|AT&T]] and a Dutch consortium had been turned down.<ref name=wayne/> In 1982, construction of the [[Inmos microprocessor factory|microprocessor factory]] in [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], [[South Wales]] was completed. By July 1984 [[Thorn EMI]] had made a £124.1m bid for the state's 76% interest in the company (the remaining 24% had been held by Inmos founders and employees).<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40916FC3B5D0C708DDDAE0894DC484D81 Thorn-EMI Will Buy A 76% Stake in Inmos], ''[[The New York Times]],'' 13 July 1984.</ref> Later it was raised to £192 million, approved August 1984 and finalized in September.<ref name=wayne>Wayne Sandholtz (1992) "High-Tech Europe: The Politics of International Cooperation." Berkeley: [[University of California Press]] [http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft609nb394&chunk.id=d0e10466 p. 155]</ref>

In total, Inmos had received £211 million from the government, but did not become profitable.<ref>Kevin Smith, "Inmos Forced to Get off the Dole." ''[[Electronics (magazine)|Electronics]]'' 22 September 1983, 56:106, as cited by Wayne Sandholtz</ref>
According to Iann Barron Inmos ''was'' profitable in 1984 "we were really profitable in 1984 ... we made revenues of £150 million, and we made a profit which was slightly less than £10 million".<ref>[https://archivesit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Iann-Barron-Full-Interview-Transcript.pdf Iann Barron, Archives of IT, p26] </ref>

In April 1989, Inmos was sold to SGS-Thomson (now [[STMicroelectronics]]). Around the same time, work was started on an enhanced transputer, the T9000. This encountered various technical problems and delays, and was eventually abandoned, signalling the end of the development of the transputer as a parallel processing platform. However, transputer derivatives such as the ST20 were later incorporated into chipsets for embedded applications such as [[set-top box]]es.

In December 1994, Inmos was fully assimilated into STMicroelectronics, and the usage of the Inmos brand name was discontinued.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Arthur Trew and Greg Wilson (eds.) (1991). ''Past, Present, Parallel: A Survey of Available Parallel Computing Systems''. New York: Springer-Verlag. {{ISBN|0-387-19664-1}}
* Mick McClean and Tom Rowland (1986). ''The Inmos Saga''. Quorum Books. {{ISBN|978-0-89930-165-5}}

==External links==
* ''Inmos and the transputer'': [http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res32.htm#c  part 1] and [http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res33.htm#c part 2] &mdash; a 1998 talk given by Iann Barron to the Computer Conservation Society of the British Computer Society
* [http://www.inmos.com/ Inmos ex-employee website]
* Dick Selwood (August 2007). [http://www.inmos.com/inmos_legacy.html "The Inmos legacy"]. ''Components in Electronics''.
* [http://www.computermuseum.org.uk/fixed_pages/parsys_sn9500.html Parsys SN9500] based on 32 x T9000 running at 20&nbsp;MHz (text and pictures)

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct computer hardware companies]]
[[Category:Defunct semiconductor companies]]
[[Category:Computer companies established in 1978]]
[[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1989]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Colorado]]
[[Category:1978 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1989 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Semiconductor companies of the United Kingdom]]