General Instrument - GI Microelectronics

GI Microelectronics

GI Microelectronics was a manufacturer of LSI circuits and a pioneer in MOS technology and EAROM (Electrically Alterable ROM), with both off-the-shelf and custom circuits. GI spun the division off as Microchip Technology in 1987.

In 1980, their product catalog included:

• 16-bit Microprocessor: CP1600 and 1610, a 16-bit CPU, used in the GIMINI TV-game set and in Mattel's Intellivision
• 8-bit Microcontroller: the PIC1650, an NMOS chip. The CMOS version of this chip is the basis of today's PIC microcontrollers.
• ROM
• EAROM
• Telecommunications chips

Other products included the famous AY-3-8910/11/12/14 series of sound chips, the AY-3-85xx, 86xx, 87xx series of game chips and a single-chip speech synthesizer, the SP0256 Narrator. A version of the SP0256 appeared in Mattel's Intellivoice. The popular SP0256-AL2 variant comes with a set of allophones built in.