Tough Market for U.S. Firms : Computer Makers Try Again in Japan
American makers of supercomputers, sophisticated number crunchers capable of lightning-fast calculations, are again gearing for a crack at the Japanese market.
But while U.S. machines may have an edge in terms of software availability, competing with cutthroat Japanese price policies is likely to be tough, industry analysts said.
Five makers of supercomputers and mini-supercomputers, with support from the U.S. Commerce Department, will send a mission to Japan next week to display their wares and meet with likely customers, a spokesman for one of the firms said Monday.
The firms are Cray Research Inc., Control Data Corp. subsidiary ETA Systems Inc., Evans and Sutherland Computer Corp. subsidiary Myrias Computer Corp., Prime Computer Inc., and Scientific Computer Systems Corp., he said.
Mixed Blessing
The mission is the second from Washington since the United States and Japan agreed in August, 1987, on new guidelines for Japanese public sector purchases of supercomputers, said Lauren Kelley, supercomputer analyst with the Commerce Department.
The United States complained that before the agreement, Japanese bidding specifications were vague and American companies never knew why they lost sales to government agencies.
“The purpose of the mission is to test the agreement,” said Kelley, who is handling arrangements for the delegation.
The first sale by a U.S. firm to a government funded institution after the agreement has been a mixed blessing for the American firm that made it, industry analysts said.
In October, 1987, Control Data Corp. subsidiary Control Data Japan Ltd. obtained an order from the Tokyo Institute of Technology for an ETA Systems supercomputer. It promised to deliver the machine in March.
But extra time spent in testing the newly developed system, the first to be equipped with eight central processors, caused the company to delay delivery until the end of May, a Control Data Japan spokesman said.
The firm had to pay the Institute an undisclosed penalty for late delivery of the 2.7-billion yen ($21.6-million) machine, he said.
Even more serious may have been the black eye given to U.S. companies’ image.
“When you sign a contract to meet a a delivery date and don’t, you get your just desserts,” said Prudential-Bache Securities (Japan) Ltd. analyst Peter Wolff. “It doesn’t create a good image for U.S. manufacturers.”
More problematic still is the question of the hefty discounts--up to 80% by some estimates--that Japanese supercomputer makers offer their public sector clients, analysts said.
