AST Research, Inc. was a personal computer manufacturer, founded in Irvine, California, in 1980 by Albert Wong, Safi Qureshey and Thomas Yuen. In the 1980s AST designed add-on expansion cards, and toward the 1990s evolved into a major personal computer manufacturer. By the late 1990s AST was acquired by Samsung, but was forced to close shortly after due to a series of losses.
History
AST's original business was the manufacture and marketing of a broad range of microcomputer expansion cards, later focusing on higher-density replacements for the standard I/O cards in the IBM PC. A typical AST multifunction card of the mid-1980s would have an RS-232serial port, a parallel printer port, a battery-backed clock/calendar, a game port, and 384 KB of DRAM - marketed under the product name 'SixPakPlus'. A similar expansion card was produced for the 8-bit Apple II, named the AST Multi I/O, which offered a serial and parallel interface, plus a battery-backed clock/calendar. In 1987 AST produced a pair of expansions cards for the Apple IIGS computer: The RamStakPlus, a dual RAM/ROM memory expansion card; and the AST Vision Plus, a real-time video capture card. The latter card was eventually sold to Silicon & Software and licensed and sold through Virtual Realities. AST Research also produced for the Macintosh line the Mac286, a pair of NuBus cards containing an Intel 80286 and RAM, allowing a Macintosh to run MS-DOSside by side with its existing operating system. These cards were announced in March 1987 alongside Apple's Macintosh II line. The product line was eventually sold to Orange Micro, which developed the concept further. As PC manufacturers improved the integration of peripheral controllers on their motherboards, AST's original business began to shrink, and the company developed its own line of PCs, for the desktop, mobile, and server markets. AST was one of the members of the Gang of Nine which developed the EISA bus. In 1992 AST became a Fortune 500 company at place 431. AST computer's reliability was considered close to that of quality leaders Compaq, Gateway, and IBM. AST gained a decent share of the PC market, but never came close to overtaking Compaq and Dell. During 1992-1995, AST owned the largest market share in China with Legend as the largest local reseller of AST computer. In 1993 Radio Shack sold its computer manufacturing division to AST, and in 1994 they reached a deal to sell AST computers in Radio Shack stores. A year later, the electronics chain started selling IBM-brand computers instead. AST's fortunes shrunk due to the strategy of offering premium models in an increasingly competitive personal computer market, while Compaq Computer Corporation and other top-tier manufacturers slashed prices to go head-to-head with the cheapest clones. The failure of AST to recognize the movement towards the commoditization of the PC contributed to its downturn. AST insisted on developing and using its own components in the PCs it produced, instead of those of specialized OEMs. One often used saying at AST, in an attempt to dismiss such competitors, was "the best technology they have is a screwdriver." By the mid-1990s, AST had severe problems in the highly competitive PC market. Revenues for 1996 were $2.104 billion, down from 1995 revenues of $2.348 billion. AST Research was acquired by Samsung in 1997. At the time, Samsung owned 46 percent of AST and had offer to buy remaining common shares. Prior to this move, Samsung had already owned a substantial stake and provided considerable financial support to keep AST going. By December, the number of employees was down to 1,900. In 1999, Samsung was forced to close the California-based computer maker after a string of losses and a mass defection of research talent. Samsung had invested one billion US dollars in the company. The AST name was sold to Packard Bell. AST sponsored the English football clubAston Villa from 1995 to 1998.
