mds@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Michael Siegel) (04/18/88)
I'm generally not one to spread rumors, but since I am in the market for a pc I was wondering if anyone knew about some news I have heard. I spoke to a dealer last week who said that all of Intel's production of chips for the next year had been contracted to some Japanese firm and this would cause a large increase in the cost of all machines. Is this just another way to get sell me a machine or is ther any truth to this. ---Michael
johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) (04/19/88)
In article <21768@bu-cs.BU.EDU> mds@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Michael Siegel) writes: >I spoke to a dealer last week who said that all of Intel's production >of chips for the next year had been contracted to some Japanese firm >and this would cause a large increase in the cost of all machines. Really, now. What do you think? If you were Andy Grove, would you sell all of your chips to one anonymous Japanese firm and cut off IBM, Compaq, Tandy, PCs Limited, Zenith, and all of the other American makers for a whole year? And if you did, do you think any of the American makers would ever buy another chip from you? There's been a lot of talk in the trade and financial press about the fact that Intel has no second sources for the 386, unlike for the 286 and all other popular chips. (IBM has the right to make 386's for their own use but as far as anyone can tell, they don't.) Naturally, this means that Intel can charge somewhat more than if they had second sources. Their customers are grumbling, particularly because Intel can't yet make as many 386 chips as people want, but they try fairly hard to allocate them equitably, both to avoid alienating the customers, and to avoid charges of unfair practices from the government. I suppose that your dealer may have some totally garbled version of the RAM chip pact between the US and Japan, but more likely he's trying to snow you. Take your business to someone more honest. -- John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something Rome fell, Babylon fell, Scarsdale will have its turn. -G. B. Shaw