Earlier in this decade it bought a stake in the Intel Corporation, thereby lending financial support to a major chip supplier.

That two-year-old consortium of chip suppliers and computer companies was formed to develop methods for manufacturing chips.

With Intel now the world's leading chip maker, the computer makers need no longer look to alternate chip suppliers simply to guarantee steady supply.

NEC is also a major chip supplier to the industry.

The deal will give I.B.M. greater presence as a chip supplier in Japan.

Agere Systems still maintained its position as a key chip supplier for cell phones and hard disk drives.

Texas Instruments was in 1986 and is still today the largest foreign chip supplier in Japan.

Japan's chip makers disclosed a plan today that calls for closer relations with American chip suppliers.

Moreover, computer companies have scrambled to establish new relationships directly with chip suppliers.

At home, the high-tech design methods are already shaking up Silicon Valley, especially the relationship between chip suppliers and customers.