From: jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Date: 9 Jan 1993 04:01:59 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: four-lab4.berkeley.edu

In article <1ijdl0INNo0n@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> philb@cats.ucsc.edu 
(Philip Brown) writes:

  >ha! Sony now makes Sun clones that are 100% Sun compatible, possibly
  >faster, and cheaper, than the original. Microsoft sucks, and Apple's
  >stuff is mostly made in japan anyways.

It is very doubtful that Sony can make a Sparc machine for LESS than
Sun can make it, because Sun basically buys the cheapest parts and 
puts them together at a huge profit.  Example, The new Sparc-Tsunami 
motherboard is expected to cost Sun under $75 to produce.  At that price, 
the public may start to see Sparc2 speed machines at PC prices. Other clone 
manufacturers must pay royalties to Sparc Int'l which makes Sun's profit 
margin higher and allows Sun to be more cut throat if marketshare 
is at stake.  Another example:  Sparc Classic $3995 Retail.  

Another thing.  Sun purchases 50% of Sony's computer monitors.  Sony's
own marketshare on workstations is pitiful.  It probably costs them more
to make their own monitors than it does for the Sun monitors due to
economies of scale.

As for faster?  Huh?  If Sony were making their own Sparc cpu's faster
and at less cost with the royalties than Sun can get them from TI or
Cypress, do you think Sun would have dropped NEC and Fujitsu and come 
back to Silicon Valley?  Japanese Technology in the cpu and 16MB 
workstation SIMMs market is behind the Americans.

In the past few years, there have been a rash of Silicon Valley thefts.
The basic M.O. is four Asian males corner the local Fed-Ex delivery
truck and swipe four boxes filled with 16 MB SIMMs.  The FBI has been
called in but there are rumors that the State Dept. is involved too.
The theory is that, since Sematech's inception and other joint
government sponsored semi-conductor research contracts (mostly thru
DARPA) the US semi-conductor companies now have the technology and
economic edge in the high-tech workstation components market.  The
Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans are seeing their marketshare eroding.
The theory is that these thefts are being ordered by major far east
Asian semi-conductor manufactures as a way to prevent the American
companies from getting their chips to markets.  (i.e. what good are
better quality and lower cost American chips if they can't get to
market?)

IMHO, I wouldn't be so quick to say "ha!" to American technology,
especially Sun Micro.  BTW, their stock topped out at over 37 yesterday.
For my ryooshin whom I recommended buy lots of Sun at 24 just 6 months
or so ago,...well, they sold and made a lot...just hope now that Clinton 
goes easy on the cap-gains.

Jaa, James
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