Mostek

Article summary

Mostek Corporation was a semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturer, founded in 1969 by L. J. Sevin, Louay E. Sharif, Richard L. Petritz and other ex-employees of Texas Instruments. At its peak in the late 1970s, Mostek held an 85% market share of the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) memory chip market worldwide, until being eclipsed by lower-priced Japanese DRAM manufacturers who were accused of dumping memory on the market. In 1979, soon after its market peak, Mostek was purchased by United Technologies Corporation for . In 1985, after several years of red ink and declining market share, UTC closed Mostek completely and sold it for to the French electronics firm Thomson-CSF, which later spun it off into STMicroelectronics.

Key claims

1. date of foundation: 1969 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of foundation: 1988 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. date of foundation: 1215 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. date of foundation: 1975 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1969". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of foundation is "1988". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the date of foundation is "1215". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the date of foundation is "1975". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
7. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373465704