Editing AST Research (section)

==Turnaround (1989–1994)==
In 1989, AST introduced Cupid, the trademark for a method of making computer systems forward-compatible with upgraded microprocessors and memory chips. This works by having the motherboard be a [[passive backplane]], with no processor and memory which are instead located on a Cupid expansion card, to be plugged into the backplane and replaced as upgrades became available.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Brownstein | first=Mark | date=October 9, 1989 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pjAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT19 | title=AST 386SX Line Allows Upgrades to 386, i486 | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=11 | issue=41 | page=19 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Although the expectation for all AST customers to upgrade their purchases this way was unrealistic, Cupid technology enabled a successful marketing scheme, by eliminating customer hesitation over immediate obsolescence. Such concerns were prevalent due to the rapid increases in computing power in the early 1990s.<ref name=idch1994 />{{rp|42}} Using Cupid, AST marketed systems based on the latest and fastest clock-speed revisions of Intel's processors almost immediately—simply by replacing one card in the system—making it possible for AST to price its computers between ten and sixty percent cheaper than competitors.<ref name=Armstrong1991 />{{rp|126}}

In April 1990, the company announced the Dual SX/16, a clone of [[NEC]]'s [[PC-9801]] computer, to be sold exclusively in Japan where the [[PC-9800 series]] had flourished.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Takahashi | first=Dean | date=April 11, 1990 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-11-mn-1158-story.html | title=AST Takes On Japan Market with Computer | journal=Los Angeles Times | page=1 | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20221126064719/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-11-mn-1158-story.html | archivedate=November 26, 2022}} {{ProQuest|281117089}}</ref> This venture into Japan posed a risk for AST, as the company lacked a large dealer network in the country, but the company's executives, especially Qureshey, were persuaded by the vastness of Japan's business computer market during this time—second only to the United States in size. As it had done in the United States, AST offered the Dual SX/16 with more features and lower prices than domestic competitors. Unlike in the United States, AST developed bespoke brand names for its Japanese computers, in an attempt to fit in the market; the company was also negotiating with [[Sharp Corporation]] to market variants of the Dual SX/16 under the Sharp brand.<ref name=Yoder1990>{{cite journal | last=Yoder | first=Stephen Kreider | date=April 10, 1990 | title=U.S. Computer Maker Takes on NEC on Its Own Turf | journal=The Wall Street Journal | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | page=B1}} {{ProQuest|398217140}}</ref> Likewise, AST began marketing computers in former Soviet bloc countries and in India.<ref name=Yoder1990 /><ref name="Vranizan1990">{{cite journal | last=Vranizan | first=Michelle | date=February 22, 1990 | title=AST Research announces PC push into Soviet Union | journal=The Orange County Register | page=C2}} {{ProQuest|272292346}}</ref> This push toward foreign markets was another attempt by AST to recover from lost market share in the United States in the early 1990s;<ref name=idch1994 />{{rp|42–43}} by 1995 its share was larger outside the country than in the domestic market.{{r|miller19950917}}

These developments and more led to a quick financial recovery for AST, and in 1990 the company's stock price had risen roughly 260&nbsp;percent in concert with its sales and earnings growth. Firmly entrenched as the third-largest PC manufacturer, sales reached nearly $1&nbsp;billion by the end of 1990.<ref name=idch1994 />{{rp|43}} AST was sourced as [[original equipment manufacturer]] (OEM) by other computer companies such as [[Unisys]], [[Tandem Computers]], [[Digital Equipment Corporation]], [[Texas Instruments]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Riley | first=James | date=November 30, 1993 | title=AST now enters the big league | journal=South China Morning Post | page=A5}} {{ProQuest|1524589211}}</ref>

AST were also highly successful in the [[People's Republic of China]] where it dominated the PC market in the first half of the 1990s. The company announced its first Chinese factory in 1993.{{r|miller19950917}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999-01-12 |title=US buyers pick up piece of defunct AST Research |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/268716/us-buyers-pick-piece-defunct-ast-research |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A fast-growing Legend in China |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-fast-growing-legend-in-china/ |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=ZDNET |language=en}}</ref>

Success continued in 1991. Industry leader Compaq and several other competitors announced steep price cuts in direct response to AST early in the year. A few months later, when Intel released the low-cost [[Intel 80486SX|80486SX]] desktop processor, AST announced a i486SX-based computer system the next day.<ref name=Armstrong1991 />{{rp|126}} That year, AST beat Compaq for a contract to supply over 1,600 laptops to AT&T's sales department during a time when AT&T was selling its own laptops and other [[AT&T Computer Systems|computer systems]].<ref name=Rebello1991>{{cite journal | last=Rebello | first=Kathy | date=May 13, 1991 | title=AST profits from respect | journal=USA Today | publisher=Gannett Company | page=1B}} {{ProQuest|306420050}}</ref> By early 1991, 65&nbsp;percent of the computer systems supplied to [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500]] companies had AST as OEM.<ref name=idch1994 />{{rp|43}} AST engineers Tom Ludwig and Tom Craft had secretly designed the company's first portable computer against their managers' wishes; it provided about 30% of the company's $688.5 million in revenue in fiscal year 1991.{{r|takahashi19920704}}

[[File:AST PowerExec 4-33SL ColorPlus.jpg|thumb|PowerExec 4/33SL ColorPlus, a laptop released by AST in 1993]]
As with many other computer companies, AST struggled in 1992 due to a fierce price war started by Compaq.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Cook | first=Dan | date=August 31, 1992 | title=AST, ALR Stocks at Yearly Low as Price Wars Rage | journal=Orange County Business Journal | publisher=American City Business Journals | volume=15 | issue=35 | page=1}} {{ProQuest|211007233}}</ref> Ludwig and Craft left for another comany.{{r|takahashi19920704}} During plans to restructure AST yet again to minimize operating costs, Yuen left the company early that year, leaving Qureshey as the sole remaining co-founder.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Schmitt | first=Richard B. | date=June 30, 1992 | title=AST Research Says Yuen Quit; Santoro Named | journal=The Wall Street Journal | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | page=B2}} {{ProQuest|398363913}}</ref><ref name=takahashi19920704>{{cite journal | last=Takahashi | first=Dean | date=July 4, 1992 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-04-fi-1122-story.html | title=Industry Humming Over Yuen's Departure From AST Research Computers | journal=Los Angeles Times | page=1 | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20221126070036/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-04-fi-1122-story.html | archivedate=November 26, 2022}}</ref> Qureshey and his executive board set out to maintain AST's third-place status and keep on top of developments in the computer industry.<ref name=idch1994 />{{rp|43}} In November 1992, the company introduced the PowerExec 4/25SL Color Plus, one of the first laptops with the portable-specific [[Intel 80486SL|80486SL]] processor. It was released shortly after Compaq released the [[Compaq LTE Lite|LTE Lite 4/25C]], which is the first laptop with an i486SL.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Quinlan | first=Tom | date=November 9, 1992 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 | title=Compaq, AST jump on 486SL | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=14 | issue=45 | page=37 | via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1993, AST announced a joint venture with [[Grid Systems]], a subsidiary of [[Tandy Corporation]], to develop a pen-[[tablet computer]] called the PenExec, which has a cordless stylus.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=April 6, 1993 | url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/ast_enters_pen_computing_market | title=AST Enters Pen Computing Market | journal=Computer Business Review | publisher=New Statesman Media Group | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126070709/https://techmonitor.ai/technology/ast_enters_pen_computing_market | archivedate=November 26, 2022}}</ref>

Yuen (but not Wong), Ludwig and Craft, and numerous others who had become top executives at other companies were among 300 AST alumni who attended an Irvine reunion in December 1992.<ref name="takahashi19921208">{{Cite news |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |date=1992-12-08 |title=300 AST Research Alumni Rub Elbows at Reunion in Irvine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-08-fi-1760-story.html |access-date=2025-05-02 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Fiscal 1993 revenue of $1.4 billion was the first billion-dollar year. In mid-1993, AST acquired both Grid Systems and Tandy's computer division for $105 million. The company incurred a loss with this purchase but gained four PC manufacturing plants—one in [[Scotland]], the rest in [[Texas]]—and a litany of patents and software copyrights that had been registered to Tandy Corporation. The Scotland plant was later shut down, to afford building another factory in Ireland, and by 1995 only one of the Texas plants remained operational.<ref name=miller19950917>{{cite journal | last=Miller | first=Greg | date=September 17, 1995 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-17-fi-46866-story.html | title=Caught in the Cross-Fire | journal=Los Angeles Times | page=1 | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20221126045112/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-17-fi-46866-story.html | archivedate=November 26, 2022}} {{ProQuest|293105679}}</ref> In January 1994, AST announced its agreement to sell PenRight and FieldNet—pen-based software development tools included in AST's previous acquisition of Grid and Tandy—to the Telxon Corporation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 28, 1994|title=Orange County Briefly|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-28-fi-16485-story.html|access-date=November 26, 2022|website=Los Angeles Times|page=7|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802061406/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-28-fi-16485-story.html|archivedate=August 2, 2021}} {{ProQuest|282269952}}</ref> The deal was finalized in April that year.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Hwang | first=Diana | date=February 7, 1994 | title=AST sells PenRight, FieldNet to developer Telxon | journal=Computer Reseller News | publisher=CMP Publications | page=26}} {{ProQuest|227492575}}</ref> The company reported fiscal 1994 revenue of $2.4 billion and $53.5 million in profit.{{r|miller19950917}}