The second generation of biotech firms, established in the 1990s, has expanded its business scope into chemical, materials, and research infrastructure for biomed. research and pharmaceutical development. This essay analyzes one such case in materials innovation in the biotech industry -- Affymetrix’s DNA chip, which ignited the confluence of info. technology and biotechnology. This case study illuminates the evolution of business strategies of the second generation of biotech firms, analyzes the reconfiguration of biotech firms’ strategic alliances with academic research communities and pharmaceutical companies in the 1990s, and examines the hybridization of discrete technological components in the development of bioinformatics.