Kingston Technology Co. has revived an old brand name for a new line of high-speed computer memory products designed for the gaming market, in an attempt to boost the Fountain Valley-based tech giant’s profile in the increasingly lucrative gaming field after selling a related business unit.
Previously, the company’s diverse line of gaming products—such as keyboards, mice, headsets, mouse pads, USB microphones and console accessories for gamers, in addition to gamer-friendly memory products—bore the brand name HyperX, even though they were manufactured by Kingston, long one of Orange County’s largest privately held companies.
That branding is ending with the recently completed sale of HyperX to Palo Alto-based HP Inc., a $425 million deal announced in February. The deal has now been closed, according to an HP announcement on June 1.
July Launch
While the sale meant Kingston gave up the ability to sell products under the HyperX brand, it still retained the ability to make memory products used by gamers, such as flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and solid state drive (SSD) gaming products under the Kingston name.
As such, it has kicked off a newly rebranded line. Kingston said June 1 it had picked the name “Fury” for the rebrand, adding that it would also be backing “numerous” esports teams under the Kingston banner, in a manner similar to its prior amped-up marketing efforts under the HyperX brand, which included the naming rights to the country’s biggest esports venue in Las Vegas.
The Fury brand will be officially launched on July 19.
The Fury name already existed as a memory sub-brand under HyperX for many years. Kingston is now using it as the overarching enthusiast and PC gaming brand name.
It’s essential to keep a solid, relevant brand in the gaming sector, officials said.
“There’s a lot of eyeballs in gaming,” said Craig Tilmont, senior director of corporate marketing for Kingston. “Gaming is definitely growing.”
PC gaming received a huge boost over the past year when people of all ages were cooped up indoors during the COVID-19 crisis.
Varied Interests
Gaming is just one tech sector that Kingston’s products are big sellers.
Kingston calls itself “the largest independent memory manufacturer in the world.” Its memory and storage products are relied on worldwide by corporations, data centers and technology enthusiasts alike.
Kingston is best-known for its flash memory products, solid state drives and other computer-related memory products.
A large and growing portion of the company’s sales also comes via its “services division,” which includes the memory that Kingston makes on behalf of PC manufacturers.
The division also makes embedded memory products for smart thermostats, smart watches, fitness bracelets, Bluetooth speakers and robotic vacuums that are manufactured and sold by other companies.
$13B Business
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer David Sun, speaking to the Business Journal in December, estimated that last year’s revenue was up year-over-year and would top $13 billion, adding that this year will be “very good” as well.
The company ranks No. 1 on this week’s list of private companies, based on revenue
The company’s expected growth rates without HyperX under its banner haven’t been disclosed.
HP, meanwhile, expects the deal to provide a big boost in its Personal Systems business, where “gaming and peripherals are attractive segments,” it said at the time of the acquisition.
“This acquisition further advances our ability to create the compute experiences of the future, expand into valuable adjacencies, and unlock new sources of growth,” said Alex Cho, president of HP’s Personal Systems division.
Local Ties
While the just-completed sale is major, Kingston and HP’s HyperX retain plenty of ties. In fact, HP earlier this month reconfirmed that HyperX’s base will be staying in the Kingston headquarters campus.
So, it was no coincidence that Kingston’s announcement about the Fury rebranding and the HP announcement about the HyperX sale completion came on the same day.
“We actually planned this well in advance,” according to marketing chief Tilmont, who cited Kingston’s “outstanding relationship” with HP (NYSE: HPQ).
He emphasized that “there are no plans at this point” for Kingston to compete with HyperX on the peripherals market.
Fury Road
Previously, Fury had been used to designate only a memory product category for HyperX and that has now been elevated to a full brand under the Kingston banner.
The Fury brand will cover DRAM, flash and SSD products.
“Even though the HyperX DRAM is still out there in the channel and is still being produced, as soon as we launch the Kingston Fury on July 19, there will be a transition of HyperX DRAM to Kingston Fury,” Tilmont said. “We’ve been making the HyperX memory and SSD for many years; we’ve just been rebranding it as HyperX.”
“In the initial stages, the products are basically going to be the same in terms of performance,” according to Tilmont.
Most of the company’s PC gaming products are sold online, while selling at brick-and-mortar retail locations is also part of the strategy. Prices for the Fury brand memory products have not been released.
Kingston also said June 1 it will soon make global announcements of numerous esports teams joining the Kingston Fury team.
“We’re in negotiations with probably half a dozen right now, but it all depends on the response we get and the partnerships we form,” according to Tilmont. “Gaming is a good part of our business and esports and sponsorships are as well.”
