The same day that Digital Equipment Corp kicked off a three-day summit with analysts to try and build some bridges, reports were circulating that AST Research Inc may start to build PCs using DEC’s Alpha RISC chip. The move would make sense because in as much as Samsung Co, which said in July it’ll begin manufacturing Alpha chips as DEC’s second source from next year, owns about 40% of AST and needs to recoup some of its $600m-plus investment in the struggling company. Alpha-based AST products would provide a market for the Samsung fabricated parts. Terry Shannon, editor of the Shannon Knows DEC newsletter said such a deal would be a good move for DEC and would come as no surprise. DEC and AST did not return calls on the subject.
