Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation

• 1. Introduction

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  In 1982, Japan announced a project that rattled the American computer industry to its core. The Fifth Generation Project, a government-backed research initiative, aimed to produce a fundamentally new kind of computer by 1991. American and European companies read this as a direct challenge for control of the world's high-end computer market. The answer that emerged from the United States was the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, known universally as MCC. It would become the first, and at one time the largest, computer industry research consortium in the country. What draws the eye is who ran it, where it landed, and what it ultimately left behind.

• 2. Cold War Roots

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  Admiral Bobby Ray Inman was not a typical choice to lead a technology research operation. His previous roles had been Director of the National Security Agency and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Yet in late 1982, several major computer and semiconductor manufacturers chose him to found and lead MCC. The industrial logic was straightforward: Japan had been organizing similar research consortia since as early as 1956, and American companies were playing catch-up.

  The legal ground beneath MCC was unstable at first. Forming a consortium of competing companies was, at that moment, illegal in the United States. Congress resolved the problem with the National Cooperative Research Act, passed in 1984. MCC existed in a legal grey zone for its first two years, a fact that underscores how urgently its founders felt about moving quickly.

  Despite Inman's intelligence background, MCC accepted no government funding for many years. It became a haven for researchers who wanted to avoid work on the Strategic Defense Initiative, and it drew some of the most unusual projects of the decade, including serving as the reportedly single largest customer of both Symbolics and Lisp Machines, Inc.

• 3. Austin Wins the Prize

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  The search for a home for MCC played out like a high-stakes competition between American cities and universities. Atlanta offered Georgia Tech; the Research Triangle in North Carolina offered UNC; the Washington, D.C. area offered George Mason; and Stanford also made a bid. Austin, Texas ultimately won, and the University of Texas sweetened the offer by pledging to build a new facility on their campus specifically designed for MCC.

  Ross Perot added a detail that said something about how aggressively Austin campaigned: he offered the use of his private plane for two years to help with staff recruitment. The site decision was finalized in 1983.

  MCC's membership did not stay static. Early shareholders were dominated by mainframe computer companies that were under financial pressure during the 1980s. Over time the consortium broadened to include corporations involved in information technology products, government research and development agencies, and leading universities. MCC was also among the first companies to register a .com domain, a fact that places it at the very beginning of the commercial internet era.

• 4. What MCC Actually Researched

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  In the 1980s MCC's major programs were packaging, software engineering, computer-aided design, and advanced computer architectures. That last category covered artificial intelligence, human interface, database technology, and parallel processing. The database and parallel processing programs merged in the late 1980s, reflecting how the fields were converging.

  The formal divisions of MCC ranged widely. System Architecture and Design focused on scalability, interoperability, and rapid prototyping. Advanced Microelectronics Packaging and Interconnection aimed to make components smaller, faster, and more cost-competitive. Hardware Systems Engineering developed tools for cost-efficient electronic system design, including modelling and design-for-test techniques.

  Two divisions addressed challenges that would grow in importance long after MCC closed. Environmentally Conscious Technologies worked on process control, non-hazardous material alternatives, and waste minimisation in electronics production. Distributed Information Technology tackled what would later be called enterprise networking: managing corporate information across different platforms, building blocks for a national information infrastructure, and the early architecture of electronic commerce. The Intelligent Systems division built software that could support business processes, including decision support, data management, forecasting, and prediction.

• 5. The End and Its Echoes

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  In June 2000 the MCC Board of Directors voted to dissolve the consortium. The few remaining employees gathered on the 25th of October at Scholz's Beer Garden in Austin and held a wake. Formal dissolution papers were not filed until 2004.

  The ending was not without a final burst of activity. In its last years MCC transferred multiple technologies to member companies and government agencies. Fourteen companies were spun out of the consortium. Three stand out for what they reveal about MCC's range.

  Evolutionary Technologies International, focused on database tools and data warehousing, was spun off as early as 1990, a decade before MCC closed. Portelligent commercialized reverse engineering teardown services that MCC had previously provided only to its own members; when Portelligent was acquired by CMP Technology in 2007, the teardown-report industry it helped pioneer had grown to include at least twelve companies worldwide offering detailed analyses of products including the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphones. TeraVicta Technologies became Austin's first MEMS company, developing microscopic switch technology for fiber optic and radiofrequency switching in mobile phones. TeraVicta was liquidated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in 2015, but the MEMS and sensors ecosystem it helped seed in the Austin region grew into a value chain worth billions of dollars, with companies including 3M, Cypress Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductor, Cirrus Logic, and Silicon Labs.