IBM Japan is to become the first foreign-owned company to join the Japanese government-sponsored International Superconductivity Centre, which was set up in January with 52 Japanese corporate, government and academic members and is similar to the 1970s VLSI chips and artificial intelligence pre-competitive research co operatives that did so much to propel Japan to the forefront of those technologies: AT&T, Westinghouse Electric and between 20 and 30 other foreign firms have applied to become general members, who pay $16,000 to join and another $16,000 a year and get the right to attend symposia, while special members paying $800,000 upfront and $96,000 a year also have the right to second researchers to the Centre’s laboratories.
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