 This development, fostered by the Chamber of Commerce since the 1950s as a way to expand the city's narrow economic base and fueled by proliferating research programs at the University of Texas, accelerated when IBM located in Austin in 1967, followed by Texas Instruments in 1969 and Motorola in 1974.Two major research consortia of high-technology companies followed during the 1980s, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation and Sematech.By the early 1990s, the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area had about 400 high-technology manufacturers.