AST Research Inc, Irvine, California is the first top 10 US personal computer manufacturer to opt for Cyrix Corp’s Cx486 microprocessors. Most of AST’s chips will still come from Intel Corp, but it wants the Cyrix parts to give it the comfort of a second source. AST computers using Cyrix chips are expected this autumn. In 1991, AST used microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc in some notebooks. The pact also covers joint development of future microprocessors – essentially AST telling Cyrix of special features it would like to see designed into some of its future parts.Cyrix buys the chips it sells from silicon foundries: most of its microprocessors are now made by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV and IBM Corp. IBM needs Cyrix to be successful because the agreement allows it to make for its own use only as many IBM-made microprocessors as Cyrix is able to sell.
