P.M. BRIEFING : Grumman, Tokyo Talk Computers
Grumman, the U.S. aerospace company that is a leader in the business of linking supercomputers in large-scale networks, said today that it has started talks with Japanese supercomputer makers to bring the powerful Japanese machines to America.
“We see Japanese machines successfully entering the U.S. market in the next few years,” said Curtis Orchard, vice president of Grumman International.
Political opposition previously blocked nearly all sales in the United States of Japanese supercomputers, the powerful computers used mainly in large-scale research projects to design weapons, aircraft, cars and other products and to predict weather patterns, among other things.
The supercomputers, the largest of which cost $30 million, are at least 3,500 times faster than the mainframe computers used by most businesses. The machines are considered vital for keeping a competitive edge.
Under intense pressure from Washington, Tokyo agreed late in March to open its public market to American-made supercomputers as part of talks aimed at easing trade tensions between the two economic superpowers.
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