TECHNOLOGY - March 2, 1996

Chip Sting Arrest May Aid Irvine Probe: An FBI sting operation that led to the arrests over the last three days of 43 suspects in connection with computer chip theft in Northern California has also produced information that could help solve a $9.9-million heist in Irvine last May, officials said. The 18-month federal investigation that ended Wednesday with law enforcement officers sweeping across Silicon Valley making arrests yielded a suspect who is believed to have helped organize the daring theft of chips from Centon Electronics Inc. in Irvine. Police allege that Nam Pham, 29, who was taken into custody by San Jose police, was observed trying to sell some of the Centon chips in Northern California shortly after the record theft.