It looked different this time last year, but certainly chip famines would seem to be the least of the problems assailing British micro manufacturers. Aside from the silicon mountains in the machines in warehouses belonging to Sinclair, Acorn and sundry receivers, and the silicon mountains in the mountains (think about it), chip manufacturers are currently operating well below their full capacity.

For the record, the theory went something like this. British micro manufacturers led the world in terms of design, but the chips on which these designs were based were manufactred in Japan and the US. The Japanese were happy to sell chips to the British, but once the MSX machines cranked up production (cough) they'd suck up available capacity. The US already had volume micro production, so if the Japanese and the Americans turned up the juice a little the British micros would all die of chip starvation.

As you'll have noticed, it didn't happen, so the flower of Britain's micro industry can forget all about chip shortages, and concentrate on trying to get its surplus machines accepted for the Outer Mongolian Micros in Schools project, right? Wrong.

The crunch could come through a general chip shortage, or it could come through a shortfall of a specific grade of wonder chip. Say the next quantum leap arrives, Jack Tramiel and the MSX companies grab it with both hands (tentacles in Jack's case), and there's nothing left over for anybody else. Where will that leave Britain?

If its previous track record is anything to go on we'll all be wondering where we left that Transputer prototype, whistling to keep our spirits up and polishing a dusty old Z80 to see if a genie pops out.

Fortunately, there is a bright side in the shape of monetarism's favourite knight. Viewed in a certain light Sir Clive's plans for a UK-built super-chip might seem to be taking him dangerously close to the territory now occupied by Sir Freddie Laker, who is no longer monetarism's favourite knight, for various and well-documented reasons.

The Americans' in the shape of Gene Amdahl and his Trilogy project, have tried to build a super computer based on wafer scale integration, and have failed. And if those devilishly cunning Japanese haven't cracked it yet, how can Clive and a mere £50 million reckon to do it? Is Sinclair Research doomed to founder on rocks consisting of microscopic, but unfortunately slightly flawed, pieces of silicon?

As far as doing it is concerned, we only have Sir Clive's word that he can, and he has a well-documented and vivid imagination. But as matters stand, there is no chance of the WSI project turning into a black hole into which Sinclair will vanish. Furthermore, whether he can do it or not isn't exactly the point.

Take another look at how the project is to be structured. Sinclair Research has invested £1 million into research and development, squirreled away a number of patents, and produced (or is about to produce) a working, if rudimentary, prototype. But the money for the plant is being raised by ICL's Robb Wilmot, who is heading up a new company distinct from Sinclair Research. It needn't cost Sinclair anything.

Even if the plans for 7Mb of RAM on a 4in disk of silicon are overambitious, the plant could still be used to produce more cost-effective versions of the QL disk we'll see later this year and, more important, it will provide a sorely needed chip manufacturing facility in the UK, and under UK management. In the long term, the success of this needn't be tied to Wafer Scale Integration.

As far as Sir Clive is concerned, success will be exceedingly good news, and he'll make a bigger fortune. If it fails, he won't miss the odd million, and it won't have set back Sinclair Research appreciably.

Which brings us to our punch line. Sir Clive has a reputation as a risk taker, and the successful manufacture of cheap mass storage will no doubt enhance this reputation. But it's clear from the way the project is structued that the risk involved is, for him, minimal. Effectively he can have his cake and eat it.

So maybe it's not just the Japanese who are devilishly cunning...