读新概念:Silicon valley (L10 NCE4)

Lesson 10
Silicon valley
硅谷

Technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to the future. Carver Mead, a pioneer in integrated circuits and a professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology, notes there are now work-stations that enable engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks, much the way an editor creates a newsletter on a Macintosh. As the time and cost of making a chip drop to a few days and a few hundred dollars, engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures. Mead predicts that inventors will be able to perfect powerful customized chips over a weekend at the office -- spawning a new generation of garage start-ups and giving the U.S. a jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast. 'We're got more garages with smart people,' Mead observes. 'We really thrive on anarchy.'
And on Asians. Already, orientals and Asian Americans constitute the majority of the engineering staffs at many Valley firms. And Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Indian engineers are graduating in droves from California's colleges. As the heads of next-generation start-ups, these Asian innovators can draw on customs and languages to forge righter links with crucial Pacific Rim markets. For instance, Alex Au, a Stanford Ph. D. from Hong Kong, has set up a Taiwan factory to challenge Japan's near lock on the memory-chip market. India-born N.Damodar Reddy's tiny California company reopened an AT & T chip plant in Kansas City last spring with financing from the state of Missouri. Before it becomes a retirement village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business.

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• 回复：读新概念:Silicon valley (L10 NCE4) -YuGong- ♂ (562 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 16:32:05

• YG, feel pleased that u finally 记得多添一个茶杯了：） -戏雨飞鹰- ♀ (136 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 17:14:53

• 回复：YG, feel pleased that u finally 记得多添一个茶杯了：） -YuGong- ♂ (174 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 17:34:37

• shh.. -戏雨飞鹰- ♀ (61 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 17:49:30

• 喝茶还得加上我。飞鹰，YuGong新年快乐！ -楚江- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/25/2009 postreply 09:32:11

• 回复：回复：读新概念:Silicon valley (L10 NCE4) -天泽园- ♀ (272 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 19:04:57

• 阿天，I admire your dogged persistence. I do!!! -戏雨飞鹰- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 17:10:59

• Thanks,Flying Eagle! Happy Chinese New Year ! -天泽园- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/24/2009 postreply 18:57:06

• 牛年快乐，万事如意！ -楚江- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/25/2009 postreply 09:29:11

• vow, Thanks!!! -johncrane- ♂ (55 bytes) () 01/29/2009 postreply 13:28:33