Editing AST Research (section)

{{Short description|American computer manufacturer (1980–1999)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name = AST Research, Inc.
| trade_name = AST Computer
| logo = AST Research logo.svg
| logo_upright = 0.75
| image = BlizzardIrvine (crop).jpg
| image_caption = Former headquarters in Irvine, now occupied by [[Blizzard Entertainment]]
| founded = {{Start date and age|1980|07|25}}, in [[Irvine, California]], United States
| type = [[Subsidiary]]
| location = [[Irvine, California]], United States
| founder = {{ubl|Albert Wong|[[Safi Qureshey]]|[[Thomas Yuen]]}}
| fate = Dissolved
| defunct = {{End date and age|2001|02|28}}
| num_employees = 6,000
| num_employees_year = 1995<ref name="lat"/>
| parent = [[Samsung Electronics]] (1997–2001)
| website = {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961029101719/http://ast.com/|title=ast.com}}
}}
'''AST Research, Inc.''', later [[doing business as]] '''AST Computer''', was an American [[personal computer]] manufacturer. It was founded in 1980 in [[Irvine, California]], by Albert Wong, [[Safi Qureshey]], and [[Thomas Yuen]], as an initialism of their first names. Wong left the company nine years later, followed by Yuen in 1992, with Qureshey remaining until AST was acquired by [[Samsung Electronics]] in 1997.

The company began by making a [[Printed circuit board|circuit board]] for the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] that boosted its memory storage. AST [[went public]] in 1984 and would be a manufacturer of boards and add-on expansion cards.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |date=1990-04-22 |title=AST Challenges the Skeptics : Computers: Analysts had written off the Irvine PC maker after its series of setbacks. Now the revitalized company is entering the tough Japanese market. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-22-fi-538-story.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> By the late 1980s, it had evolved into a major personal computer manufacturer with its line of [[Intel i386]] based [[IBM clones|PC clones]], and it was the first vendor to announce an [[i486]] PC. In 1990, AST released an [[NEC PC-9801]] clone in the Japanese market, becoming the first American PC vendor to market an NEC clone.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1990/04/14/ast-research-targets-japanese-market/0949e992-e0f1-4fa4-96a1-3aceaaaacb0f/</ref>

AST had established itself as one of the known "alternative" brands of PCs in the United States while globally it had numerous plants<ref name=":2" /> and was one of the world's largest makers of personal computers. However, increasing competition and its difficulty to integrate the assets of [[Tandy Corporation]] acquired in 1993, led to it making major losses in the following years. [[Samsung Electronics]] purchased a stake in AST in 1995<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kerber |first=Ross |date=1995-02-28 |title=Samsung Buys 40% Stake in Troubled AST : Computers: Korean firm's injection of $450 million into money-losing Irvine PC maker gives it access to U.S. market. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-28-fi-36981-story.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> and bought the company outright two years later, leading to co-founder Qureshey stepping down as CEO and chairman.<ref name="bloomberg">{{cite web |date= |title=Safi U. Qureshey |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=714335&privcapId=2814779 |accessdate=2016-08-05 |publisher=bloomberg.com}}</ref> Unable to recover and causing additional losses to Samsung, AST was ''[[de facto]]'' closed down in 1999 and its brand name and patents sold to a consortium led by [[Beny Alagem]].<ref name="lat">{{Cite web |last=Gaw |first=Jonathan |date=1999-01-13 |title=Sale of AST Comes Just as Firm Ends Losing Streak |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-13-fi-63099-story.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>