Chinese-born
US engineer, founder of Wang Laboratories 1951, one of the world's largest
computer companies in the 1970s. In 1948 he invented the computer memory
core, the most common device used for storing computer data before the invention
of the integrated circuit (chip).
Wang emigrated to the USA 1945. He developed his own company with the $500,000
he received from IBM from the sale of his patent. One of his early contracts
was the first electronic scoreboard, installed at New York's Shea Stadium.
His company took off in 1964 with the introduction of a desktop calculator.
Later, Wang switched with great success to the newly emerging market for
word-processing systems based on cheap silicon chips, turning Wang Laboratories
into a multibillion-dollar company. But with the advent of the personal
computer, the company fell behind. Wang Laboratories made a loss of $400
million 1989. |