Live data from Hacker News

The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

cnbc.com

21–30 of 741 posts

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#21

I've always wondered what it would be like to suddenly lose the ability to build higher technology like computer chips. Obviously this is just a shortage and not the same as manufacturing just vanishing, but the effects will be interesting to observe.

Many products like water boilers, ovens or toasters can be built more robust without digital chips. I would argue we would see a overall quality improvement from having a bad chip shortage.

I would be careful to conflate internet connected trash with enough ARM cores and LoC to make your brain melt with the likes of a well placed humble microcontroller.. the mechanical or analogue components they replaced were usually far more temperamental, bulky, expensive and bad at their job. There are exceptional environments like in nuclear power, but for most purposes integrated electronics have improved reliability when done well.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#23
post #11

For years I've been asking: Why does my toothbrush have to connect to bluetooth? Why does my refrigerator twitter? These were always useless mis-features and we can hope some of them can get pared down now with the shortage. Bring back old style dumb appliances!

One can also do the choice to not buy any of these. I have no trouble finding non IoT toothbrushes, fridges and so on.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#24
Ban cryptocurrency exchanges and some of the wafer capacity currently being dedicated to mining will return to regular use (or we can just wait for the ETH2 merge, then ban the purchase of PoW cyrpto).

Secondly get workers back to work by ending COVID-era unemployment payments and workplace restrictions.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#25
post #17
post #11

For years I've been asking: Why does my toothbrush have to connect to bluetooth? Why does my refrigerator twitter? These were always useless mis-features and we can hope some of them can get pared down now with the shortage. Bring back old style dumb appliances!

Connected devices are a good thing - i.e. I should be able to make the washing machine scriptable from my computer, but I bet these solutions are always crap because they are implemented in a hurry by engineers who don't understand either the hardware or software well enough to make it work, so you end up with quasi-useless boss-pleasers like we have now.

Why should you be able to connect to run a script on a washing machine? Don't you need physically be there anyway to move the clothes around?

The only use case I can see is a notification when the cycle is done, but I think there are better ways to go about that than using an SoC.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#26
post #17
post #11

For years I've been asking: Why does my toothbrush have to connect to bluetooth? Why does my refrigerator twitter? These were always useless mis-features and we can hope some of them can get pared down now with the shortage. Bring back old style dumb appliances!

Connected devices are a good thing - i.e. I should be able to make the washing machine scriptable from my computer, but I bet these solutions are always crap because they are implemented in a hurry by engineers who don't understand either the hardware or software well enough to make it work, so you end up with quasi-useless boss-pleasers like we have now.

The world isn't driven by "I should have all the nice things I can imagine". How are you gonna script the washing machine to take the underwear off your bottom and put it in the drum? You'll have to do that yourself. And when you do it, you might as well "script the washing machine" by pushing the buttons on it.

I'm a programmer and honestly I can't wait for this IoT fad to die down a little. Sure, maybe it's cool to have LAN connected lightbulbs as a novelty product. But this kind of shit will never ever be the norm, simply because it makes no damn sense in terms of value proposition.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#27
post #25
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Connected devices are a good thing - i.e. I should be able to make the washing machine scriptable from my computer, but I bet these solutions are always crap because they are implemented in a hurry by engineers who don't understand either the hardware or software well enough to make it work, so you end up with quasi-useless boss-pleasers like we have now.

Why should you be able to connect to run a script on a washing machine? Don't you need physically be there anyway to move the clothes around? The only use case I can see is a notification when the cycle is done, but I think there are better ways to go about that than using an SoC.

OK, so I need to be able to script my clothes, then.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#28
post #11

For years I've been asking: Why does my toothbrush have to connect to bluetooth? Why does my refrigerator twitter? These were always useless mis-features and we can hope some of them can get pared down now with the shortage. Bring back old style dumb appliances!

If I go to “shop all” in the refrigerators section of Home Depot’s site and look at the count next to the filter for “smart” features - Only 97 out of 798 refrigerators they sell have smart features.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#29
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many products like water boilers, ovens or toasters can be built more robust without digital chips. I would argue we would see a overall quality improvement from having a bad chip shortage.

LOL nobody remembers how to design analog control systems anymore

And they are not always more robust. Calibration, noise sensitivity...

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#30
post #4

Why is there a shortage rather than a price hike, similar to what would happen with fuel? Long term contracts?

There are sophisticated financial markets for trading fuel, but not for chips. In such a market, firms are incentivised to buy when they anticipate demand will rise (or supply will fall), which increases the price. Then after the price has risen (the demand has materialised), they sell. This distributes the consumption of the underlying resource more evenly across time, making shortages less likely.
Post reply on HN