A semiconductor memory device includes a sense amplifier which senses data read out from a memory cell, a transfer gate coupled to an output of the sense amplifier, and a data latch circuit coupled to the transfer gate. The data latch circuit includes two MOS transistors of a same conductivity type connected in series between a pair of I/O data lines. The gates of the two MOS transistors are cross-coupled to the data lines respectively, thereby enabling a rapid data transfer between the memory cell and a data bus.