1980 Overall sales of home computers breaks the billion-dollar mark.
1981 IBM introduces its personal computer.
1981 MEMC builds the Utsunomiya plant, becoming the first non-Japanese wafer maker with manufacturing and research facilities in Japan. MEMC builds Milton Keynes plant; it is closed in 1990.
1981 MEMC begins commercial production of 6" (150mm) wafers. MEMC's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant is built; it is closed in 1998.
1981 MEMC ships wafers in the "Flip-Tran" cassette. The "can" is sealed with dry nitrogen to ensure cleanliness.
1982 MEMC, again an industry pioneer, develops Epi wafers for CMOS applications. Image right: Ethyl Corporation conducts first tests of granular polysilicon. Ethyl eventually sells the business unit to Albemarle Corporation. Albemarle, in turn, is later purchased by MEMC.
1983 Six million personal computers are sold in the U.S.
1984 The last computer that used vacuum tubes is decommissioned.
1984 MEMC begins commercial production of 8" (200mm) wafers. A pilot plant is also built to make granular polysilicon.
1987 Ethyl Corporation (Albemarle/MEMC) begins commercial production of granular polysilicon.
1989 Hüls AG of Marl, Germany, purchases Monsanto Electronic Materials Company through its subsidiary - Dynamite Nobel Silicon (DNS) of Italy. The combined company is named, "MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.", or MEMC.
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