Business Notes ELECTRONICS

The world's electronics giants are off and running in a race to dominate the predicted $40 billion market for high-definition television, the next- generation technology that will provide TV pictures as clear as a movie screen's. Last week Zenith Electronics, the only remaining major American manufacturer of TV sets, and AT&T, a power in microchip research, said they would pool their research to develop an HDTV system by 1993. Zenith will provide the broadcasting technology, and AT&T will provide the microelectronics.

The U.S. partners hope to draw $13 million in financing for their $24 million venture from a special Pentagon fund for HDTV research. But just two days after the Zenith-AT&T announcement, the U.S. division of Japan's Sony acknowledged that it had submitted a bid for the Pentagon's entire $30 million research contract. "I don't think Sony needs a U.S. subsidy," groused Republican Representative Don Ritter of Pennsylvania, who has sponsored legislation that would create more HDTV incentives for American industry. "It was open bidding," counters Sony spokesman Haruyuki Machida. Who will get the money? Don't touch that dial.