VLVL2 (9): Chipco

[Tim Strzechowski]

142.12:  "Meanwhile, Takeshi Fumimota was in and out of Tokyo for reasons of business connected with the mysterious obliteration of a research complex belonging to the shadowy world conglomerate Chipco."


The "Babies of Wackiness" site offers the following parallels between Chipco and other "companies" of Pynchon's invention:
p. 142 "...the shadowy world conglomerate Chipco..."   This imaginary entity (an echo, perhaps of the sinister YoYoDyne Corporation in The Crying of Lot 49) is presumably some Intel-like company whose microprocessor chips are sold world wide. No doubt the chips are designed to keep a covert watch on everything, and report back to Chipco -- similar to Byron the Bulb and his fellow gridmates in Gravity's Rainbow.

http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter9.htm


"Chipco" seems to be a fairly common name for companies.

There's the casino chip manufacturing company:

"It all started in 1985, when CHIPCO identified a unique process as having the ability to revolutionize the role of the gaming chip. After extensive research and development, CHIPCO proudly introduced the ProTechT chip and changed the way casino managers view table game transaction pieces."
 
http://www.chipco.com/default.htm

The computer game manufacturer:
 
http://www.sabersedge.com/chipco/
 
and several others.  If anything, the name has a certain "computer chip" suggestion that makes it seem very high-tech, very corporate.
 

 
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