General Instrument

General Instrument, Inc.
Founded	1969?
Closed	1997
Headquarters	Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States

General Instrument, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer who designed and produced microchips for satellite signal processing as well as chips for audio processing and video games.

General Instruments produced the AY-3-8910 series of audio chips at the end of the 1970s. These chips would go on the become the audio standard throughout the first half of the 1980s, being used in the majority of arcade cabinets, home consoles, and computer sound cards.

In 1987, General Instrument spun off its microelectronics division as a wholly owned subsidiary called Microchip Technology. The remainder of General Instrument was bought out and split up in 1997. Though derivative companies would reuse the name, the original company was defunct.

Hardware

Audio Chips

Release	Chip	Popular Devices
197?-??-??	AY-3-8910	Hundreds of arcade games, Mockingboards Sound I and Sound II, MSX, Oric 1, Colour Genie, Elektor TV Games Computer (Expanded Version)
197?-??-??	AY-3-8912	Vectrex, Fuller Box, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum 128K, some arcade games.
197?-??-??	AY-3-8913	Mockingboards A, C, D, M, and v1, some arcade games.
197?-??-??	AY-3-8914	Intellivision, Intellivision II

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument - Wikipedia.