The Wall Street Journal has been going through Richardson, Texas-based Cyrix Corp’s prospectus for its proposed initial public offering (page seven) and finds that the company has a hitherto undisclosed dispute with Texas Instruments Inc over licensing and manufacturing issues – Cyrix says it has received limited supplies of chips from Texas, and as a result assumes it will not receive any products from Texas Instruments in the future; the dispute could give Texas, which has a licence to sell Cyrix-designed chips under its own name, the right to sell all current and some future Cyrix products through the term of the five-year agreement, making it harder for Cyrix to develop its own brand name identity; the current manufacturing agreement with SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV would be able to meet its needs to the end of the year, after which it would need to buy its own manufacturing facility, expand its contracts with the two firms, or do a deal with another chip maker; earlier this month, SGS-Thomson signed a new contract agreeing to supply chips to Cyrix to the end of 1994, and gets the right to sell Cyrix-designed chips under its own name.
