Electronic Arrays

American electronics manufacturer

Electronic Arrays, Inc.

Formerly| McMullen Associates (until 1967)
Industry| Electronics
Founded| United States
Founder| Jim McMullen
Defunct| 1978
Fate| Acquired by NEC
Products| Semiconductors

Electronic Arrays, Inc. was a United States integrated circuit (IC) manufacturer of the 1960s and 1970s. The company originated when Jim McMullen and other employees of General Microelectronics left to form McMullen Associates, which was later renamed Electronic Arrays, Inc. in 1967.

They were best known for their series of electronic calculator chipsets, starting in 1970 with the EAS100 four-function calculator.[1] Implemented in six chips, rapid improvements in semiconductor fabrication allowed them to progressively combine them in versions with five, four, two and finally a single chip. Although the EAS series was successful for a time, other vendors with more advanced processes entered the market and introduced single-chip systems before Electronic Arrays' own versions. They lost market share to companies like Mostek and Texas Instruments, and later to a slew of Japanese companies entering the market, including Hitachi, NEC, and Toshiba.[2]

The company attempted to change markets with the Electronic Arrays 9002, an 8-bit NMOS logic microprocessor released in 1976.[2] The company struggled with production issues and gave up marketing the design in November 1977.[3][4][5] The company was sold to NEC in 1978.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "U. S. fires first shot at Japanese calculator lead" (PDF). Electronics. 44 (4). McGraw-Hill: 37–38\. February 15, 1971.
2. ^ a b Cushman, Robert H. (September 20, 1975). "2-1/2 Generation μP's – $10 Parts That Perform Like Low-End Mini's" (PDF). EDN. 20 (17). Cahners Publishing: 36–42\. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 24, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
3. ^ "Electronic Arrays". Microelectronics Newsletter. Integrated Circuit Engineering Corporation. September 18, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved June 12, 2018 - via Smithsonian Institution.
4. ^ Hoefler, Don C. (September 18, 1976). "Setbacks". Microelectronics News with Manager's Casebook. p. 4 - via Smithsonian Institution.
5. ^ Cushman, Robert (November 20, 1977). "EDN's Fourth Annual Microprocessor Directory" (PDF). EDN. p. 45. Retrieved June 23, 2018. "EA9002—The project staff at Electronic Arrays associated with this μP has been disbanded and the marketing effort closed down. The firm entered the market too late and was too small to mount a competitive sales effort."
6. ^ "Nippon Merges U.S. Arms, Forms NEC Electronics". Computerworld. Vol. 15, no. 16\. April 20, 1981. p. 78.

## Further reading

[edit]

* "Electronic Arrays".
* "Electronic Arrays".
* "Do-it-yourself Electronic Calculator". IEEE Computer. November 1970.

* v
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NEC

Divisions and
subsidiaries|

| Current|

* NEC Corporation of America
* NEC Laboratories America
* NEC Software Solutions
* UK
* NEC Solution Innovators
* NEC Unified Solutions
* Avaloq
* Netcracker Technology

* Avaloq

|

Defunct|

* NEC BIGLOBE
* Electronic Arrays
* Packard Bell NEC
* Reveal Computer Products
* Zenith Data Systems

Joint ventures and
shareholdings|

| Current|

* Alaxala Networks (40%)
* Anritsu (7%)
* Japan Aviation Electronics (25%)
* NEC BIGLOBE
* Renesas Electronics (34%)
* Sharp NEC Display Solutions (34%)

|

Defunct|

* NEC Mobile Communications
* NEC Philips Unified Systems1
* Sony NEC Optiarc2

Products, services
and standards|

* Microprocessors
* 78K
* μCOM series
* µPD7220
* µPD7720
* R4200
* V20
* V25
* V60
* V850
* Mobile phones
* e616
* N343i
* Personal computers
* Supercomputers
* Video game consoles

People|

* Walter Tenney Carleton
* Kunihiko Iwadare
* Tadahiro Sekimoto

Places|

* NEC Supertower

Other|

* NEC Blue Rockets
* NEC Cup (China)
* NEC Cup (Japan)
* NEC Green Rockets
* NEC Karuizawa 72
* NEC Red Rockets
* NEC Shun-Ei
* Sumitomo Group

* 1Now wholly owned
* 2Sold

* Category
* Commons
* Computers
* Video game consoles

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