Compaq Acquires Digital Equipment

Date: June 11, 1998 • Location: Washington, United States

Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.

Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compatible computers, being the second company after Columbia Data Products to legally reverse engineer the BIOS of the IBM Personal Computer. It rose to become the largest supplier of PC systems during the 1990s. The company was initially based in Harris County, Texas.