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TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#151
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their margin is approaching 40%. They're basically printing money at this point. It's hilarious how a manufacturer can be so profitable nowadays.

Genuine question because I’m unfamiliar with the market. Why aren’t competitors undercutting these big players? 40% is ridiculous

Building a new factory is a 10+ year effort for a competitor. (They have to do the R&D to get on-par with performance, and physically build the factory).

The shortage won't last that long.

But in the meantime, anyone who owns a suitable factory can pretty much set the prices as high as they like. I'm really surprised the price hike is only 20%, rather than 10% per month for the next 3 years.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#152
post #55

Supply shortage is another way of saying demand excess. I don’t see much evidence that TSMC ever really slowed production, at least for their most advanced processes that are in high demand. This is yet another way we’re all forced to pay the price for cryptocurrency. As long as GPUs are profitable for mining, they will be purchased and put to work. The saddest part is that each additional GPU added to the mining net…

I agree with this but it's even worse than that. Estimates on Bitcoin energy usage put it at over 1TW now. I believe it was comparable to the energy consumption of Argentina. Advocates will defend this by saying most energy usage is renewable. This conjures the image of someone with a bunch of solar panels but the reality is that it's primarily hydro power because that's the cheapest. Thing is, in regions with cheap…

Actually Bitcoin and a lot of other coins have a coin limit (to prevent hyperinflation) and once the limit is set than the miners would make money on the transaction fee.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#153
post #96
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if food shortages are possible for the same reasons.

Absolutely. If there's a fear of shortage, shortages will happen. There are also chain reactions to whole economy.

No. If there's fear of a shortage and prices don't rise adequately in response, then shortages happen.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#154

Bitfinex (which has been outlawed in the USA) keeps printing Tether to prop up the price of Bitcoin, graphics cards are snatched up as soon as they are manufactured, and they're using an Argentina-sized amount of power to keep the whole thing going. Yes, it works, but no one on earth will ever use these Bitcoins to buy two pizzas ever again. What's the end-game, at this point? As many bagholders as possible?

The end game is to transition to Proof of Stake, which doesn't have these problems and has other security advantages.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#155
post #33
post #7

Starting to get the feeling that the current prices for PC components are here to say.

This might be the start of the end of high-end PC gaming, unless prices get back to a more reasonable level. Consoles (and phones) are very competitive and cost significantly less. Or perhaps it just causes the games to have lower performance requirements. Is integrated graphics the future of PC gaming?

Consoles are significantly under-priced or there wouldn't be continual issues with them being out of stock and flipped by scalpers.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#156

Supply shortage is another way of saying demand excess. I don’t see much evidence that TSMC ever really slowed production, at least for their most advanced processes that are in high demand. This is yet another way we’re all forced to pay the price for cryptocurrency. As long as GPUs are profitable for mining, they will be purchased and put to work. The saddest part is that each additional GPU added to the mining net…

I wish some governments would start shutting down the fiat exchanges.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#157

My PC is 11 years old this year. I've been waiting to upgrade it for 2 years but held off because GPU prices are utterly ridiculous. I don't know who can afford these inflated prices, I was hoping things would settle but it doesn't appear to be the case.

Consider a pre-build PC, and then a Steam Deck or Xbox for gaming?

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The underlying problem is that you need to prevent sybil attacks, i.e. group X creates many peers in the network and so gets much more voting power than they "ought to" have. The only known way to do so is through attaching a real-world cost to ~votes. The way PoW does so is through equating votes and hashrate, so votes cost real money because hashrate requires real hardware. PoS works in mysterious ways, but the bas…

> so votes cost real money So it doesn't actually fix the problem, it just means only the richest have any real power, just like the financial industries outside of crypto.

that's what being rich means - being able to control a large share of resources.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#159
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this but it's even worse than that. Estimates on Bitcoin energy usage put it at over 1TW now. I believe it was comparable to the energy consumption of Argentina. Advocates will defend this by saying most energy usage is renewable. This conjures the image of someone with a bunch of solar panels but the reality is that it's primarily hydro power because that's the cheapest. Thing is, in regions with cheap…

Actually Bitcoin and a lot of other coins have a coin limit (to prevent hyperinflation) and once the limit is set than the miners would make money on the transaction fee.

Even a pure linear emission of 1 coin per second forever is disinflationary. A supply limit only serves to create FOMO.

Re: TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

#160

I'm in charge of sourcing components for multiple companies right now. I believe they could double (100%) prices and companies would pay it. There's chips that I'm sourcing from obscure places in China just to get the part and paying whatever price they ask. Designers are getting overwhelmed because they're having to redesign boards for components that are available, only to realize by the time they finish the change…

Concur. We are currently paying a chip broker $6.30 for an Infineon chip we typically buy by the 100,000s for $0.47. Cuz without them, our customers cannot sell their $10,000,000 product.
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