Canon Inc, which is jointly developing chips for use in laser printers with National Semiconductor Corp, has signed similar agreements with Plessey Co Plc here, and with Intel Corp in the US. Under the agreement with Plessey, the partners will jointly develop applications-specific circuits for use in telecommunications equipment. And Canon’s agreement with Intel calls for joint development of controller chips for use in photocopiers – the Intel iAPX-86 family is already widely used by Japanese copier manufacturers. The moves are Canon’s contribution to increasing Japan’s purchases of US chips, and to European complaints at the low European content of locally manufactured Japanese products. Canon expects to spend $320m on chips this year, $64m of it on foreign ones.
