Kaypro Turning to Japanese

Kaypro Corp., which has billed itself as the home of the “Made in America” personal computer since it began making the machines in Solana Beach six years ago, said it will begin purchasing printed circuit boards from Japanese manufacturers within two months.

Kaypro said it is being forced into the move because of problems finding certain memory chips at an affordable price. As a result of the chip shortage, the cost of producing the Kaypro 286 and other models has increased sharply and production has not kept pace with demand.

Shifting some production to Japan will save the company an estimated $200 per machine, Kaypro President David Kay said.

The company also said this week that it will not lay off up to 100 employees as announced last week and was trying to keep as many workers on the payroll as possible through a job-sharing program.

Kaypro laid off 41 employees last week as the company announced it was unable to obtain enough 256-kilobit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips for its IBM-compatible Kaypro 286 computers and other products.

The company is now receiving quotes on circuit boards from Japanese firms and hopes to start using them in Kaypro products within two months.