Founded by Michael J. Callahan and James H. Clardy, the company originally specialized in the design and manufacture of silicon for mixed-signal integrated circuits, namely digital-to-analog (DAC) and analog-to-digital (ADC) converters.

After being acquired by Cirrus Logic of San Jose, California, in 1991 for about $59 million, the company became a dominant player in the personal computer sound chip market.

[2]: 170 [3] Callahan, the principal founder, had previously incorporated Texas Micro Engineering (TME), a fabless semiconductor firm, in Austin in 1979.

[2]: 170  Unlike TME, Crystal was a full-on semiconductor fabricator, the company groundbreaking a 10,000-square-foot plant in Austin with the US$5 million of capital they had initially raised.

Asahi Kasei, a Japanese chemical and electronics conglomerate, purchased an eight-percent stake in Crystal in exchange for flushing the company with new capital.

[15]: F6  In September 1991, Cirrus Logic, Inc., a San Jose, California–based fabless semiconductor company specializing in personal computer chips, announced the acquisition of Crystal in a stock swap worth roughly $59 million at the time.

[18] Prompted by growing sales and employment, between April and June 1993, the company's 350 workers moved out from their old headquarters to a new plant in Austin four times its size.