The GSM7980 dot-matrix liquid crystal display controller and driver LSI displays alphanumeric, Japanese kana characters, and symbols. It can be configured to drive a dot-matrix liquid crystal display under the control of a 4- or 8-bit microprocessor. Since all the functions such as display RAM, character generator, and liquid crystal driver, required for driving a dot-matrix liquid crystal display are internally provided on one chip, a minimal system can be interfaced with this controller/driver. The GSM7980 has pin function compatibility with the HD44780, KS0066U and SED1278 that allows the user to easily replace it with an GSM7980. The GSM7980 character generator ROM is extended to generate 208 5 x 8 dot character fonts and 32 5 x 10 dot character fonts for a total of 240 different character fonts. The low power supply (2.7V to 5.5V) of the GSM7980 is suitable for any portable battery-driven product requiring low power dissipation. The GSM7980 LCD driver consists of 16 common signal drivers and 40 segment signal drivers which can extend display size by cascading segment driver GSM788E, GSM798E or GSM793E. The maximum display size can be either 80 characters in 1-line display or 40 characters in 2-line display. A single GSM7980 can display up to one 8-character line or two 8-character lines.