According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory system includes semiconductor memories, and a memory controller configured to control the semiconductor memories. Each of the semiconductor memories is configured to execute an internal sequence including operations and have a wait period after an end of each of the operations, to notify, during the wait period, a status signal, which notifies in advance a start of a next operation, to the memory controller, and to start the next operation upon receiving a restart instruction of the internal sequence from the memory controller.