In an effort to jump start its planned move into the workstation market, Compaq Computer Corp is now said to be discussing acquisition of Mountain View, California-based Silicon Graphics Inc, one of the companies reported to be a participant in the emerging effort to establish a new desk-top computer standard combining the MIPS Computer Systems Inc R4000 64-bit RISC with Microsoft Corp’s forthcoming portable Windows-derived operating system (CI No 1,610). A Compaq-Silicon Graphics combination would make the challenge to the Sun Microsystems Inc hegemony in the workstation market much more imminent. Silicon Graphics builds its workstations around the MIPS RISC chip family, and while neither company would comment on the talk of a merger, reported in yesterday’s New York Times, Silicon Graphics said it would welcome the adoption of the MIPS Computer Systems chips by Compaq.
