ADI Corporation

ADI Corporation (an initialism for Advanced Data International) was founded in Taiwan in March 1979 by Liao Jian-cheng. The company was originally a diversified concern, manufacturing a number of disparate products, including footwear for Nike, Inc.{{cite book | date=1990 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4JLAQAAIAAJ | title=Asian Company Handbook | edition=1990 | publisher=Tōyō Keizai Shinpōsha | page=563 | via=Google Books}}{{cite book | last=Fang | first=Cindy | author2=Frances Gao | author3=David Liu | author4=Christopher S. Tang | author5=Weiwei Wang | author6=Tony Wiu | date=2007 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8Nu3ytLenYC | title=Supply Chain Analysis | chapter=Supply Chain Configurations of Foreign Cosmetics Companies | publisher=Springer | page=3 | isbn=978-0-387-75240-2 | via=Google Books}} By the time the company entered the market for computer hardware in the 1980s, ADI still had a contract with Nike to produce shoes. Its first computer-related exports were data terminals and computer monitors.

In 1986, Liao Jian-cheng merged ADI with his other corporation Cheng Chang Enterprises Co., Ltd. In 1987, the company went public on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.{{cite book | date=1999 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMbVG3YccR4C | title=The Dow Jones Guide to the Global Stock Market: Asia/Pacific | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | volume=2 | isbn=1-881944-13-1 | via=Google Books}} Around the same time, the company established Quimax Systems, an American subsidiary dedicated to importing the company's monitors and terminals manufactured in Taiwan. A major customer of Quimax in the 1980s was Esprit Systems, a seller of terminals that was spun off from Hazeltine Corporation within the decade.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=May 12, 1989 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A7253428/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Other Financing | journal=Computergram International | publisher=GlobalData | via=Gale | issue=1175}} In 1989, ADI became a major shareholder in Espirit, and in 1990 the year they led a group of other Taiwanese companies in a takeover of Espirit that transformed the public American company into a privately owned venture.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=June 1, 1989 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A7310304/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Esprit Systems to move down from American Exchange to NASDAQ | journal=Computergram International | publisher=GlobalData | issue=1189 | via=Gale}}{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=April 4, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A8302706/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Taiwanese, US investors offer 17 cents a share to take Esprit Systems private | journal=Computergram International | publisher=GlobalData | issue=1399 | via=Gale}}

By the turn of the 1990s, ADI was a leading manufacturer of terminals and displays in Taiwan.{{cite book | last=Lim | first=Linda | date=1991 | url=https://archive.org/details/foreigndirectinv0000liml/page/142/ | title=Foreign Direct Investment and Industrialisation in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand | publisher=Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | page=142 | isbn=9789264134980 | via=the Internet Archive}} ADI began offering monitors under their own name starting in 1993, under the subbrand MicroScan.{{cite journal | last=Corcoran | first=Cate | date=November 1, 1993 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6joEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43 | title=Energy-saving ADI monitors adaptable to chip sets, signals | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=15 | issue=44 | page=43 | via=Google Books}} Major customers of ADI soon included Apple Computer, Compaq, and Optiquest.{{cite journal | last=Dritsas | first=David | author2=Grant Clauser | author3=Janet Pinkerton | date=January 2000 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/218951050/ | title=Comdex Wrap Up: New for 2000 | journal=Dealerscope | publisher=North American Publishing Company | volume=42 | issue=1 | pages=72–74 |id={{ProQuest|218951050}}}}{{rp|72}}{{cite journal | last=Stone | first=M. David | date=March 16, 1993 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yYT_SOlHzAC&pg=PA118 | title=ADI Systems Inc.: ADI MicroScan 3E, ADI MicroScan 3E+, ADI MicroScan 4A; Compaq Computer Corp.: Compaq 1024 Color Monitor; Optiquest Inc.: Optiquest 1500D, Optiquest 2000D | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=12 | issue=5 | pages=118, 126 | via=Google Books}}{{rp|118}} Of these customers, Compaq was by far the largest, ADI producing nearly all of their monitors in the 1990s.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=September 22, 1995 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/230848886/ | title=Siliconware flies, ADI struggles as Taiwan list starts | journal=Euroweek | publisher=Euromoney Publications | issue=421 | page=9 |id={{ProQuest|230848886}}}} In November 1994, Compaq formed a joint venture with ADI to raise factories in Mexico, Brazil, and Europe to assemble and store ADI's monitors, helping reduce the travel time from Taiwan to ADI's major exports.{{cite journal | last=Kanellos | first=Michael | date=November 28, 1994 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/227487080/ | title=ADI develops offshore sites with Compaq's aid | journal=Computer Reseller News | publisher=CMP Publications | issue=607 | page=26 |id={{ProQuest|227487080}}}} Unit shipments increased from 1.1 million in 1993 to 1.6 million in 1994.{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Jeanette | author2=Bill Terdoslavich | date=April 24, 1995 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/227502656/ | title=Monitors: A Race To Put Bigger, Greener, Sharper-Looking Images On Screens | journal=Computer Reseller News | publisher=CMP Publications | page=94 |id={{ProQuest|227502656}}}} Also in 1994, ADI piloted the production of an i486SX subnotebook, although it never came to fruition.{{cite journal | last=Zimmerman | first=Micahel R. | date=June 6, 1994 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A16003142/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Subnotebooks, Pentium-based portables previewed in Taiwan | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=11 | issue=22 | page=11 | via=Gale}}

In 1998, ADI obtained the rights from Sony to sell monitors with Trinitron picture tubes, starting with the MicroScan 5GT.{{cite journal | last=Robinson | first=Daniel | date=June 1998 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21278473/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=ADI MicroScan 5GT | journal=PC Direct | publisher=ZDNet | page=333 | via=Gale}} Around the turn of the millennium, the company began selling flat-panel monitors, chiefly LCDs.

ADI went defunct around the same time they let their American website domain name expire in December 2006.{{cite web | date=December 8, 2006 | url=http://www.adiusa.com:80/ | title=adiusa.com | publisher=Network Solutions | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061216160638/http://www.adiusa.com:80/ | archivedate=December 16, 2006 | url-status=dead}}

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• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980203193835/http://www.adiusa.com/|title=Official website|date=February 3, 1998}}

Category:1979 establishments in Taiwan

Category:1986 establishments in California

Category:Manufacturing companies based in Taipei

Category:Computer companies established in 1979

Category:Taiwanese brands

Category:Computer monitors

Category:Computer companies of Taiwan

Category:Defunct computer hardware companies