[sci.electronics] Atari fights back !

lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) (03/18/88)

This appeared in the Toronto Star yesterday:
"...Atari Corp. accused an Idaho semiconductor company of "exploiting" a
shortage of computer memory chips to get a higher price....
Atari's lawsuit in federal District Court in San Jose charges that Micron
Technology Inc. of Boise breached its contract and violated antitrust laws
when it canceled a telephone order for 3 million DRAM chips.  Micron later
tried to offer an unspecified number of chips to Atari at a much higer price, AAtari said. ..."
Sound familiar?  Have you tried to get 256K rams recently.  In toronto, quoted
prices (for micron) are $8.00 with 6-8 week delivery.  Places with stock want
over $12.00 and usually demand a certified cheque within 2 hours of the order.
(we're talking minimum 2K pieces.)  I was paying $2.50 each 1 year ago.
Since Japan stopped shipping (note: not dumping) ram to north america, the 
US manufactures have been gouging the public.  I believe the only US 
DRAM manufactures of note are Motorola and Micron Tech.  Neither can meet demand
 - Last time I spoke to someone at micron they told me they are on allocation and
can't fill any "small" orders.
Wasn't it these same companies that forced congress to stop japanese DRAM 
imports saying it would cripple the US high teck markets?  So to "save"
these two companies from financial ruin, all technology that uses DRAMs 
is being held ransom by the US semiconductor industry.
Fight back!!  There is no reason 256K x 1 rams should cost <$3.00  There
isn't even an american company that makes 1 Megabit DRAMS (don't ask what
they cost).
Unix et al. can't run on 64K Z80 systems.  The 80386's, 68030's, t800's etc.
need lots of memory to be useful and American firms will get left behind
in building systems if only the Japanese have access to DRAM's.

Enough said.  Canada is pretty impotent when it comes to things like this so
its up to you in the US to put pressure on washington to change things.
I hope this happens soon!
/leonard

john@ektools.UUCP (John H. Hall) (03/18/88)

In article <1988Mar17.195328.12277@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) writes:
>
>Sound familiar?  Have you tried to get 256K rams recently.  In toronto, quoted
>prices (for micron) are $8.00 with 6-8 week delivery.  Places with stock want
>over $12.00 and usually demand a certified cheque within 2 hours of the order.
>(we're talking minimum 2K pieces.)  I was paying $2.50 each 1 year ago.
>Since Japan stopped shipping (note: not dumping) ram to north america, the 
                                                         ?????????????
>US manufactures have been gouging the public.  I believe the only US 
>DRAM manufactures of note are Motorola and Micron Tech.  Neither can meet demand
> ...
>Wasn't it these same companies that forced congress to stop japanese DRAM 
>imports saying it would cripple the US high teck markets?  So to "save"
>these two companies from financial ruin, all technology that uses DRAMs 
>is being held ransom by the US semiconductor industry.
> ...
>Enough said.  Canada is pretty impotent when it comes to things like this so
>its up to you in the US to put pressure on washington to change things.
>I hope this happens soon!
	
This makes no sense at all to me.  Canada is an independent nation,
and the US Congress has no authority to impose trade restrictions
on all of "North America",

If there are bucks to be made, you can bet the Japanese will be there.
Unless the Canadian government has imposed import restrictions of
their own (to protect the Canadian DRAM industry :-) ), I think  the
cause (and solution) to your problem will be found either with the
Canadian government or with your Canadian electronics suppliers.

If the paths of supply for all of your Canadian industries come
through U.S. distributers, this looks like a golden opportunity for
some enterprising Canadian to scrounge some capital, import
some Japanese chips, and make some big bucks.  This could result in
a real competitive advantage for Canadian computer makers.

Don't blame Uncle Sam for this one.
-- 
John Hall, Supervisor: Software Tools Group, Product Software Engineering
EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, 901 Elmgrove Rd., Rochester, NY 14650,  716 726-9345
UUCP:   {allegra, rutgers}!rochester!kodak!ektools!john
ARPA:   kodak!ektools!john@rochester.ARPA

john@bby-bc.UUCP (john) (03/20/88)

In article <1127@ektools.UUCP>, john@ektools.UUCP (John H. Hall) writes:
.
.
> >Since Japan stopped shipping (note: not dumping) ram to north america, the 
>                                                          ?????????????
> >US manufactures have been gouging the public.  I believe the only US 
> >DRAM manufactures of note are Motorola and Micron Tech.  Neither can meet demand
> > ...
> >Wasn't it these same companies that forced congress to stop japanese DRAM 
> >imports saying it would cripple the US high teck markets?  So to "save"
> >these two companies from financial ruin, all technology that uses DRAMs 
> >is being held ransom by the US semiconductor industry.
> > ...
> >Enough said.  Canada is pretty impotent when it comes to things like this so
> >its up to you in the US to put pressure on washington to change things.
> >I hope this happens soon!
> 	
> This makes no sense at all to me.  Canada is an independent nation,
> and the US Congress has no authority to impose trade restrictions
> on all of "North America",

As I recall what they (Congress) did was to tell the Japanese that if they
wanted to keep selling stuff to the US then they had better start charging
more to all their customers (not just the US).  Wanting to keep the US
market the Japanese went along.  So while Congress may not have the legal
authority to impose trade restrictions between Japan and other countries
they certainly have the muscle to do so.

Also keep in mind the rising yen - again partly due to US pressure - which
makes everything from Japan more expensive.

.
.
.
> Don't blame Uncle Sam for this one.
> -- 
 Why not?

brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (03/21/88)

In article <1127@ektools.UUCP> john@ektools.UUCP (John H. Hall) writes:
>If the paths of supply for all of your Canadian industries come
>through U.S. distributers, this looks like a golden opportunity for
>some enterprising Canadian to scrounge some capital, import
>some Japanese chips, and make some big bucks.  This could result in
>a real competitive advantage for Canadian computer makers.
>
>Don't blame Uncle Sam for this one.

I've always wondered about why somebody doesn't do this as well, but you've
just inadvertently explained it.

If I were to import RAM from Japan (fairly long lead times on this sort of
thing), I would expect board manufacturers and computer makers to be
my biggest customers.

Unfortunately they couldn't buy those chips, because when they went to
export their product to the USA, they would get stopped by Uncle Sam,
who would say, "Hey!  Dumped Japanese chips!"

So it seems that the end user isn't a big enough market for somebody
to set this up.  Even NEC of Canada hasn't done it.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473

lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) (03/21/88)

From what I understand, the trade restrictions imposed by congress affect
Canada for the following reason.  Japan has cut down on the number of
export permits for DRAMS in response to the US
trade restrictions.  This applies to Canada as well as their perception
of Canada is probably that of a large US state.
/leonard

peter@gen1.UUCP (Peter CAMILLERI) (03/22/88)

In article <1127@ektools.UUCP> john@ektools.UUCP (John H. Hall) writes:
>In article <1988Mar17.195328.12277@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) writes:
>>
>>Sound familiar?  Have you tried to get 256K rams recently.  In toronto, quoted
>>prices (for micron) are $8.00 with 6-8 week delivery.  Places with stock want
>>over $12.00 and usually demand a certified cheque within 2 hours of the order.
>>(we're talking minimum 2K pieces.)  I was paying $2.50 each 1 year ago.
>>Since Japan stopped shipping (note: not dumping) ram to north america, the 
>                                                         ?????????????
>>US manufactures have been gouging the public.  I believe the only US 
>>DRAM manufactures of note are Motorola and Micron Tech. Neither can meet ...
>> ...
>>Wasn't it these same companies that forced congress to stop japanese DRAM 
>>imports saying it would cripple the US high teck markets?  So to "save"
>>these two companies from financial ruin, all technology that uses DRAMs 
>>is being held ransom by the US semiconductor industry.
>> ...
>>Enough said.  Canada is pretty impotent when it comes to things like this so
>>its up to you in the US to put pressure on washington to change things.
>>I hope this happens soon!
>	
>This makes no sense at all to me.  Canada is an independent nation,
>and the US Congress has no authority to impose trade restrictions
>on all of "North America",
>
>
>Don't blame Uncle Sam for this one.
>-- 

Well, lets look at what is ACTUALLY going on here. Not too long ago, several
highly influential corporate and government groups in the U.S. became 
convinced that Japanese semiconductor companies were dumping thier ware,
amung them DRAMs, at below cost. Massive tarrifs were threatened. The 
Japanese government, fearing a terrible trade war, agreed to "recomend"
production and export qoutas to certain countries. Namely, the U.S.,
Canada, and most of Europe. The chip makers given the choice of selling
$2.00 256k drams or $25 1M drams chose to use thier allocation on the
more profitable parts.

And there you have it. Soaring dram prices, shortages, and the U.S.
dictating world wide dram availability. The japanese? well I can almost
here them laughing, all the way to the bank. 

ps. the Europeans were furious! And I don't think they're going to take
it any more, but then they have Siemens, already in production of 256k
and 1M devices. As for us crazy canooks? We're S.O.L. 

pps. T.I. is the "other" US dram vendor, Motorola imports dies from the
"J" country.

I have no affiliation with any company mentioned, I just wish I had
stockpiled 256k drams 6 months ago :-)

-- 
Peter  Camilleri         UUCP:       ...!mnetor!yunexus!gen1!peter
                                       ...utzoo!/