US computer giants balk at outdated export restrictions
THE United States Government's export restrictions on supercomputers, intended to keep computing power from America's enemies, have essentially been rendered obsolete by advances in microprocessors and the Internet, computer industry officials said.
That was why an industry group went public last week with a campaign to get the government to eliminate export restrictions, 'which is what we really want, or to dramatically liberalise the controls,' Greg Garcia, the American Electronics Association's (AEA) senior manager for international trade affairs, said.
The Clinton Administration is considering revising export controls.
The changes could mean more business for Cray Research, Sun Microsystems, IBM, and other American companies that make supercomputers or the chips that make them work.
Easing the export rules could make their products cheaper.
Recently, the leaders of 10 of the United States' largest computer companies met Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who is head of the National Economic Council, and other Clinton Administration officials to discuss the export rules.