A static memory cell, composed of cross-coupled MOS transistors having a
relatively high threshold voltage, is equipped with MOS transistors for
controlling the power supply line voltage of the memory cell. To permit
the voltage difference between two data storage nodes in the inactivated
memory cell to exceed the voltage difference between the two nodes when
write data is applied from a data line pair DL and /DL to the two nodes
in the activated memory cell, the power supply line voltage control
transistors are turned on to apply a high voltage VCH to the power supply
lines after the word line voltage is turned off. The data holding voltage
in the memory cell can be activated to a high voltage independent of the
data line voltage, and the data holding voltage can be dynamically set so
that read and write operations can be performed at high speed with low
power consumption.