Gunmen Tie Up 5, Steal Microchips : Robbery: The high-tech warehouse holdup netted about $300,000 worth of items. It is the latest in a string of such crimes.

Police are searching for two gunmen who tied up the owner of a computer warehouse and four employees before stealing about $300,000 in computer microchips and other items.

The theft, which occurred just after closing time Monday night, is the latest in a string of computer chip robberies since 1988 that have mostly targeted manufacturing firms, Sgt. Ron Smith said Wednesday.

At 6:15 p.m. Monday, the gunmen walked into Progen Technology Inc. in the 3100 block of Airway Avenue and asked for a specific kind of computer chip, type 486, Smith said.

“They knew what this company had in stock,” he said.

They then tied up the owner and employees and forced them to sit in the hallway for about 30 minutes. One employee was hit on the forehead with the butt of a gun by one of the suspects.

Before running away, the men took about 6,000 computer chips worth $1 to $500 each, $5,000 in jewelry, a $500 television set, a $300 videocassette recorder and a $200 microwave oven.

Police say computer chips are attractive to thieves because they do not have serial numbers, which makes them difficult to trace, and a mere handful can be worth thousands of dollars.

Police said there have been at least 18 computer chip robberies since 1988.

In the past, several crime rings in Southern California have been connected with stealing millions of dollars worth of chips from high-tech companies at or about closing time.

In most cases, the suspects have been inside the business they want to hit and know what kind of merchandise is there, police say. Then they sell the merchandise to other manufacturers.

“I don’t think anyone sells chips on street corners,” Smith said. “There’s no value in a criminal selling another criminal a computer (part).”