Chip pressure

THE US administration should keep pressing Japan to buy more US computer chips, according to a study by the government's National Research Council. 'As long as US firms encounter impediments, appropriate pressure should be continued,' the council's committee on Japan said in the 118- page study.

It also said such pressure had been crucial to helping US companies break into the Japanese market. US and Japanese industry officials reached agreement last month on a plan to increase American semiconductor sales in Japan. Under the accord, the 10 largest users accounting for half of Japanese purchases promised to give US suppliers lists of additional chips they would buy before the end of the year.