SEMICONDUCTORS: No Thanks, No Memories

No Thanks, No Memories

Even when the Government gives its blessing, U.S. microchip makers cannot bring themselves to collaborate. Their deep-down resistance to joint efforts came to the surface last week with the scuttling of U.S. Memories, a consortium formed seven months ago by American firms to compete in the Japanese-dominated market for memory chips. With such powerful backers as IBM and Digital Equipment, U.S. Memories planned to build a $1 billion plant to produce chips for everything from personal computers to missile-guidance systems. But a worldwide glut of memory chips, which has pushed prices lower, prompted many would-be investors to back out of the...

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