Digital Equipment Corp has abandoned its quest for a second source for the Alpha RISC after coming to the conclusion that foundries were not willing to make the kind of investment needed until they were sure that the thing would take off, Electronic News reports. DEC’s new chief executive, Robert Palmer, who himself has a background in the semiconductor business, blamed their hesitancy on the fact that so many companies got burned by rushing to fabricate Sun Microsystems Inc’s Sparc and MIPS Computer Systems Inc’s R-series RISCs. The company plans to go back to them when Alpha has won itself a track record in systems. The lack of confidence in the Alpha is striking given that companies like National Semiconductor Corp have been looking in vain for a hit microprocessor for several years now.
