Computer firms are hoping to gain an edge to their research through a new $40 million centre which opened yesterday.
Three private groups and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology put up $10 million each for three out of nine proposed research groups making up the Advanced Materials Research Institute at the university.
It will work on improving materials as diverse as cement and polymer composites to help regional firms develop, said institute director and head of the physics department, Nelson Cue Xientang.
There were about half a dozen top local companies supplying multinational computer firms with magnetic recording heads used in disk drives, he said.
A project with SAE Magnetics would look at better materials, said the firm's research engineer, Raymond Cheung Chi-yue.
'The trend is towards smaller and smaller heads of higher and higher storage density,' he said.
