To reduce the power consumption of a semiconductor memory by eliminating the need of a boosting circuit and a high-voltage generating circuit for driving word lines by obtaining a word line driving voltage by supplying an external power supply voltage to a word line driver.

When a prescribed row address is transmitted from a row address buffer, a row address decoder 2 decodes the row address and one word line WL is selected out of a large number of word lines in accordance with the decoded row address. An external power supply voltage is supplied to an internal power supply voltage generating circuit 8 and a word line driver 4 and the circuit converts the supplied voltage into an external power supply voltage and outputs the external power supply voltage to an internal circuit. The word line driver 4 which receives the external power supply voltage transmits the inputted external power supply voltage to the selected work line WL in accordance with the output of the decoder 2.