The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences • Hacker News Board

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#271

Post by systemvoltage » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

istjohn wrote: post #192

epistasis wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the size of these trucks has completely put me off ever wanting one. I miss the small ones from a few decades ago... great for surfing, hauling the ver occasional bit of stuff, just as useful as the ugly beasts of today but far cheaper and more maneuverable and safer. I think we need to start requiring commercial drivers licenses on some of these beasts. They are intentionally designed to be difficult to see ou…

I don't disagree, but there would be a political shitstorm if you tried to take away their trucks.

Trucks are vehicles. How can they be political? I know plenty of people from all kinds of backgrounds owning a truck.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#272

Post by gumby » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

bredren wrote: post #98

smiley1437 wrote: post #58

Interestingly, there is an embedded video in that article that explains the issue specific to the automotive shortage - it's because the automotive industry cancelled a lot of chip orders in anticipation of low vehicle demand and that caused chip makers to reduce their production for the kinds of chips that go into cars, and now it takes time to ramp back up: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/03/02/how-the-global-compu…

Since 14% of renters are behind on rent and evictions begin June 30, aren’t vehicle repossessions going to kick in July / August? Presumably, due in part to eviction protection, they have been able to divert all or a portion of their rent payments to keeping up with bad car loans for commute vehicles that often will not be needed. These folks need them for housing unfortunately. If repossessed cars start showing up t…

It’s hard to predict, even if only a couple of months ahead. As the economy picks up a lot of people who had rent relief may have some sort of income, perhaps enough to push them positively over the line. Not all of the renters on relief, obviously, but perhaps enough to chop the number of actual car repossessions significantly.

Separately, I suspect that quite a few of the ppl who had rent relief had cars that, let’s just say, wouldn’t be highly sought in he used vehicle market.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#273

Post by 11thEarlOfMar » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

If you have a taste for irony, my company makes critical components for semiconductor equipment. If we can't ship, they can't ship. If they can't ship, semiconductor fabs can't increase capacity to meet the demand and solve the shortage.

We went line down last week due to shortage of a critical chip for our component.

In reality, the shortage is likely self-inflicted, like toilet paper a year ago, but for whatever combination of real demand + hoarding, we can't get them.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#274

Post by jackson1442 » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #109

neogodless wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What country are you in? I know I can eliminate Taiwan and the United States from the list, as they both have semiconductor fabs!

So how much do USA-made mobile phones cost?

Samsung has a fab in Austin, so many of their devices have USA-made chips.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#275

Post by systemvoltage » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #185

seltzered_ wrote: post #170

Regarding cars: "Some carmakers are now leaving out high-end features as a result of the chip shortage, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday. Nissan is reportedly leaving navigation systems out of cars that would normally have them, while Ram Trucks has stopped equipping its 1500 pickups with a standard “intelligent” rearview mirror that monitors for blind spots" I have an unpopular opinion, especially when we…

Smaller trucks are available for those who want them. Most buyers prefer larger trucks.

Cars are getting larger in general, not just trucks.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#276

Post by 99_00 » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

neltnerb wrote: post #193

smiley1437 wrote: post #58

Interestingly, there is an embedded video in that article that explains the issue specific to the automotive shortage - it's because the automotive industry cancelled a lot of chip orders in anticipation of low vehicle demand and that caused chip makers to reduce their production for the kinds of chips that go into cars, and now it takes time to ramp back up: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/03/02/how-the-global-compu…

I get that this is a potential big problem, but I had to stop reading when the dog washing company blamed needing to respin a new board on a chip being out of stock due to this. I'm sorry, but if you aren't buying enough chips to build all the boards you want to build of a revision, this is just what happens, chip shortage or no. Stuff gets obsoleted all the time, it doesn't take a chip shortage. Blaming a black swan…

But it's a great save your ass tactic that's used all the time.

If it's a big news story people are focused on it. And humans mistakenly attribute events to what the are focused on.

Trump was a great scapegoat for local, city, regional, state politicians.

All kinds of things can be blamed on climate change, systematic racism, etc. Basically anything that a leader can't fix but is in the news is a great scapegoat.

Not to say that these aren't real issue. They are, but once you hear how they are over attributed as causal you can't unsee it.

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#277

Post by gumby » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

seltzered_ wrote: post #170

Regarding cars: "Some carmakers are now leaving out high-end features as a result of the chip shortage, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday. Nissan is reportedly leaving navigation systems out of cars that would normally have them, while Ram Trucks has stopped equipping its 1500 pickups with a standard “intelligent” rearview mirror that monitors for blind spots" I have an unpopular opinion, especially when we…

> Nissan is reportedly leaving navigation systems out of cars that would normally have them

Wonder if this will begin a trend. The car navigation system is pretty worthless these days except if you find yourself unexpectedly out of phone range (I still carry paper maps, but these days many phone navigation apps allow you to pre-download your route so you don’t have to worry about being out of coverage).

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#278

Post by Animats » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

o-__-o wrote: post #212

ineedasername wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most new cars still suck / Do not offer meaningful new features That really depends on how old your car is. I generally buy instead of lease, and run the car until it starts having regular problems. As a result, my car is 12 years old, and any new one from the last few years is a significant upgrade in terms of features. I don't really want a monthly car payment again, but I'm almost looking forward to when my curren…

All modern cars have amazing new features. Air bags, reverse cameras, steering by wire, ABS, direct fuel injection, massively boosted turbocharged engines (on econoboxes!) and traction control as standard. My 7 year old car has all of the above and can park itself, has adaptive cruise control, and for $400 I added a 12” touch screen stereo. Compared to my last car, my current car outputs up to 20psi of boost compared…

All modern cars have amazing new features.

Oh yes. Remote monitoring, tracking for advertising, contact list stealing through the USB charger port...

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#279

Post by daniellarusso » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

istjohn wrote: post #206

ineedasername wrote: post #138

My wife just needed to get a new car, and the salesman was complaining that just as demand was starting to increase the chip shortage means they're barely getting any new ones in stock. And of course the popular models are the ones that are selling out the fastest, meaning people are holding off on purchases because they can't get what they want. My wife's was one of maybe 8 in the entire state that had the features…

There's a dead sibling comment stating that car sales won't be a job in 20 years. I would speculate that sales and other careers that are high-touch and relationship focused are precisely the kind of jobs that will be most resistant to automation.

Like travel agents, retail sales associates, or fastfood workers?

Re: The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences

#280

Post by pbourke » Sun, May 09, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #214

lunixicityee wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could dip your toe in by getting a design produced, if you're interested in the process. Google and efabless accept submissions every few months for designs that use a free 130nm process development kit: https://efabless.com/open_shuttle_program 130nm is plenty ancient; it's the same feature size as a >10-year-old STM32F1, I think. And I hear that those MPW runs are starting to accept ~$10K for a guaranteed spot…

> Is that possible? I haven't crunched the numbers and I don't have enough information or context to do so accurately. But my gut says that it might depend on how many billionaires you're on good terms with. 130nm is quite ancient, but there are digital parts from early nineties still on the market. They are way bigger than 130nm. Right now I have an ongoing project with a company making aircons. Their kit supplier u…

> but the kit supplier itself can't migrate from Hitachi MCU because they don't have firmware sources as they themselves only copypasted the firmware as a binary for decades..

That’s seems like a rather existential problem. If I’m understanding correctly, the kit supplier makes the control board and the manufacturer does final assembly?