The Race for Fifth Generation Computer Systems

Abstract

The computer industry, worldwide, is a multi-million pound industry employing millions of workers in many different countries. In a few years the industry will be valued at over 200 billion US dollars, second only in world importance to the oil industry. In the United Kingdom alone, according to estimates from the British Government’s Department of Trade and Industry, over 900,000 jobs are presently associated with information technology. Some 60 per cent of industry is dependent on information technology for its business. Huge profits are generated from building computer systems and supplying computer peripherals, software and services. International Business Machines (IBM), one of the world’s largest multi-national companies, and mainly involved with computers, had profits for 1983 alone of 1.2 billion US dollars: a greater sum than that produced by all the companies in some countries of the world.