A significant leader in the founding and growth of the U.S. high tech industry, Sevin co-founded Mostek Corporation in 1969 and later co-founded the venture capital firm Sevin Rosen Funds (SRF) with Ben Rosen in August 1981.
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sevin attended parochial schools in Baton Rouge through high school. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, which was where he became interested in electronics. He attended LSU, earning his B.S. degree in 1957 and his M.S. degree in 1959, both in Electrical Engineering.
After college, he began his career at Texas Instruments, where he was involved in technical development in the fields of Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuits, magnetic film memories, and opto-electronics. He, along with other ex-employees of Texas Instruments, co-founded Mostek Corporation in 1969. Initially their products were manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts; however, by 1974 most of the manufacturing was done in the Carrollton, Texas facility on Crosby Road.
Sevin served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Mostek Corporation from March 1969 to December 1980. Mostek was a leader in technology, having one of the broadest and most advanced product lines in the manufacture of integrated circuits and electronic subsystems. As a co-founder and innovative leader, he emphasized state-of-the-art products manufactured with a basic Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) process, including semiconductor memories, single-chip microcomputers, and integrated circuits used in the communications field. Mostek's innovations were characterized as forming a significant basis for what many respected sources described as the next industrial revolution.
He led the corporation to national and international status, with sales reaching the half-billion dollar level. 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 Japanese DRAM manufacturers who offered equivalent chips at lower prices by dumping memory on the market. In 1979, soon after its market peak, Mostek was purchased by United Technologies Corporation for $345M.
The author of a notable book on field effect transistors, Sevin held several patents in semiconductor technology. He served as a Director of the Institute of Technology at Southern Methodist University from 1974–76 and served on the Board of Directors of the Bulova Watch Company from 1976–79. He served on the Trade Policy Committee of the Semiconductor Industry Association Board of Directors, and acted as a spokesman for the semiconductor industry before the House of Ways and Means Committee and the International Trade Commission regarding foreign trade barriers. As a contemporary "industrial entrepreneur" in the high technology sector, he gained a reputation equaled by few for engineering excellence, and for honesty and integrity in the business and financial community.
Sevin has been a Founding Partner and General Partner at SRF, which he co-founded with Ben Rosen in August 1981. He has also served as an Advisor and Strategic Partner at CenterPoint Ventures and as an Advisor and Strategic Partner at three CenterPoint funds. SRF was a Founding Investor in the financing of Citrix, Cypress Semiconductor, Electronic Arts, Lotus Development Corporation, Silicon Graphics, and Vitesse Semiconductor. SRF's first major success was its 1982 investment in Compaq, which went public shortly thereafter.
