Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kazuhiko Nishi conceived the MSX standard after collaborating with Kazuyasu Maeda during a seminar in the early 1980s. The formal announcement occurred on the 27th of June 1983 during a press conference.
The original Zilog Z80 microprocessor ran at 3.58 MHz inside every early MSX system. Texas Instruments provided the TMS9918 graphics chip with 16 KB of dedicated VRAM while General Instrument manufactured the AY-3-8910 sound chip for audio output.
Nine million MSX units were sold worldwide with five million units sold exclusively in Japan alone. The system became preeminent across South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and the Netherlands throughout the decade.
The first MSX computer sold to the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000 released on the 21st of October 1983. This marked the official release date following the formal announcement on the 27th of June 1983.
Four generations emerged from 1983 through 1993 including MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, and TurboR. Production of the final model FS-A1GT ended in 1993 when Panasonic decided to focus on releasing the 3DO console.