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Show Personal Computers To 'Computermqbiles' What's Ahead In The 'Electronics Revolution By Harry J. Gray Chairman and Chief Executive Officer United Technologies Corporation Following is an excerpt of a speech by Harry J. Gray delivered before an audience at the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL. In his remarks, Mr. Cray comments on developments in new technology and their likely impact in the years ahead. There's a revolution going i on in technology today, triggered by a -development that will change civilization as much as the printing press or steam engine. I'm tal king about tiny chips of silicon that engineers call "integrated circuits." Just one of them replaces thousands of old-fashioned electronic circuits. cir-cuits. They reached the point in the early 1970 s where all the circuits essential to a computer could be put on one chip, known as a microprocessor. micro-processor. At the end of the decade, microelectronics was just coming into its own. You know thf most visible results: pocket calculators, video cames, d:p!al watchf.s all the new eirct ronic wnnri'TS. Chips truly are marvels of technoit l'v. vet actually they aren't very impressive to the naked eye. 'I hey 're made of tiny black rectaimtes of silicon that look like flakes of rvpper. but through a microscope micro-scope you can see that each of them contains miniature transistors and capacitors scores and scores of them. Our Mustek Corporation subsidiary- makes one chip on which the number of these components is about 140,000. Of the many virtues of today's chips, one is most responsible for the electronics explosion: their low cost. They're a tremendous bargain, considering all they do. You can buy electronic calculators now for only a small fraction of the cost of old mechanical calculators. The key factor is that one inexpensive chip can hold so many components. And every new chip design gives you more hang for the buck, because the number of electronic elements jxt chip has typically doubled every year. Chips will eventually make it possible for anyone who can afford a TV set to buy a personal computer. It's only going to take another year or two for electronic controls to be available for nearly all household appliances. And cars are becoming what might he called "eomputermobiles. " Virtually every new car made in American in a few years will have electronic engine controls. New autos will perform as they did before be-fore there were emission controls con-trols to rob cars of their pep. Electronic magic will work many changes on the ordinary car. Some familiar auto parts will disappear completely. The gear shift level may go, as well as the mechanical link between the accelerator pedal and the throttle. Even carburetors may be replaced within five years by new devices aided by chips. The boom in automotive electronics is just one aspect of the whole fabulous electronics business. We believe that of all industries in the '80s chips will grow fastest. And two other industries in-dustries that depend heavily on chips computers and communications will' be close behind. Last November we brought several of our operations together into a new Klectronirs Group, because be-cause it was plain to us that electronics is a major market for the future. Many of us think these remarkable chips are leading civilization into a new era. Like the industrial revolution that extended the influence of man's muscles, the electronics revolution will extend the influence of his mind, enabling him to reach new levels of mastery and control. |