Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co has received large orders, totalling 1m a month, from three US companies, IBM Corp, Intel Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co for 1M-bit memory chips, enabling Matsushita to claim to have graduated to the leading rank of Japanese chipmakers alongside NEC Corp and Toshiba Corp: Matsushita is already supplying IBM and the other two start receiving parts this month: Matsushita, with an enormous stockpile of 256Ks, started well behind in the 1M generation, but recent efforts to develop sales have paid off and production at the Uozu plant will now be expanded; Toshiba is currently making 7m 1Ms a month, NEC is doing 4m with between 50% and 60% being exported; at least 50% of Matsushita parts will go abroad.
