Wong, Yuen Remain Optimists, Entrepreneurs as in AST Days

In the 15 months since resigning as chief operating officer of AST Research Inc., Thomas C.K. Yuen has taken three vacation cruises, relaxed at his Newport Beach mansion and decided that he wants to create another computer company.

Yuen, 41, established AST in his garage with Safi U. Qureshey and Albert V. Wong. Together, they built the 13-year-old company into a Fortune 500 concern. Always the entrepreneur, Yuen has formed an Irvine holding company, Atlantis Computers Inc., to begin his next business.

Still bitter about losing a power struggle with Qureshey, Yuen said he named the company after the mythical lost civilization because he considers himself one of the “lost souls” of AST.

“There was a lost culture, a bunch of lost souls figuring out what to do next,” he said in a recent interview. “Atlantis was a nation of intelligent people, like in the early AST. There are still good people there. But I think there are still a lot of opportunities in the computer industry.”

Instead of buying another company, Yuen said he decided to launch a start-up. He said he wants to find a product to sell in the next several months and use the corresponding revenue to fund research and development of emerging computer technologies.

He has invested an undisclosed sum in NuTek Computers Inc., a private company in Cupertino that has introduced a clone of a Macintosh-style computer. And he has invested in real estate, including a 9,000-square-foot house in a gated community of Newport Beach.

Yuen made his estimated $60-million fortune at AST. He still owns 750,000 shares, about 2% of AST’s outstanding common stock, valued at $13.4 million at the current price of $17.875 a share.

Wong resigned as AST’s chief technical officer in 1988 and, a year later, founded his own computer company, Amkly Systems, with the money he obtained from AST. He invested more than $10 million and hired 40 people, but a Darwinian PC price war made it impossible for Amkly to compete. He shut down the company late last year.

Wong, who is busy building a 15,000-square-feet mansion in Laguna Niguel, said that he did not know what sort of business Yuen would launch.

“I wish him all the luck, and I know he’s astute in the market and so he should do well,” said Wong, adding that he and Yuen have not discussed another business collaboration.

Other AST veterans have landed in high places. Mike Morand, former vice president of marketing, is now president of computer maker Leading Edge Products in Westborough, Mass.

After leaving AST, Yuen originally said he was eager to launch his “second (economic) miracle.” But after watching the demise of Amkly Systems, Yuen said he would be cautious. Still, he said he may be willing to risk as much as $20 million in a new venture.

“I think I learned from what Albert went through,” he said. “He really taught me to be more conservative. I’ve limited myself by avoiding borrowing money from other people.”

Atlantis would serve as a holding company with several start-up divisions that focus on research and development of technologies that could be sold to other firms, such as those involving multimedia computers and computer networks.

Yuen said his health is fine, though he has been on dialysis treatment for a delicate kidney condition for more than a decade. He said he hopes to escape some of the stress of beginning a business by hiring managers to run his divisions.

“I can guide them, like a venture capitalist,” he said. “Some people said I should spend my time with the large companies, but I think I would like to spawn smaller companies. Because of my experience, I prefer to be the sole player, using my own money.”

So far, Atlantis has no employees, though Yuen has used a number of consultants. He said many former AST employees in the region have expressed a willingness to work with him again.

Yuen helped finance a posh bash for AST alumni at the Sports Club Irvine last Christmas.

“I miss the entrepreneurial days, the intimacy of working with your peers and a real team,” he said. “I think this time I want to do things that I like, not just earn a living.”

Yuen said he has no illusions about competing against AST or creating another billion-dollar company.

“If in the end these companies do $30 million to $50 million, it will be worth it,” he said.