TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage • Hacker News Board

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

#311

Post by neb_b » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

_xnmw wrote: post #282

neb_b wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin onchain payments are still faster and cheaper than using something like Western Union. The lightning network is even faster and cheaper than that. https://twitter.com/jackmallers/status/1428429890957848591 (tweet text, also includes a video and some more info) "With @Bitnob_official's Lightning Network integration, we now have free, instant, non-reversible remittances of any size to and from the United States…

The real value is only in the USD and NGN. Using Bitcoin to move the value is only propped by hype-fueled insanity that doesn't need to exist. International banks could easily create an international money-transfer system that would be far more reliable and secure than any decentralized Ponzi scheme. An in fact, such systems do exist - for example I used to earn in USD and spend instantly in other countries using int…

You are lucky that you had access to those services. In many poor countries the majority of citizens do not have a bank account.

Even if international banks created these services (why haven't they done more of this already if it's easy?) these people would not be able to access it.

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

#312

Post by neb_b » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

f32jhnjk33jj wrote: post #267

neb_b wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin onchain payments are still faster and cheaper than using something like Western Union. The lightning network is even faster and cheaper than that. https://twitter.com/jackmallers/status/1428429890957848591 (tweet text, also includes a video and some more info) "With @Bitnob_official's Lightning Network integration, we now have free, instant, non-reversible remittances of any size to and from the United States…

I don't know a single person who uses bitcoins or a single store that accepts them... and it's very risky for companies due to it's extreme volatility (the price may increase/decrease by hundreds percent within days or weeks)

That's anecdotal. I know many people that use bitcoin every day.

Bitcoin is much more useful (currently) to people that don't have access to traditional banking systems that many people take for granted.

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

#313

Post by pjscott » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

pbourke wrote: post #285

topspin wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I was hoping things would settle but it doesn't appear to be the case." I've come to the conclusion that it's not going to 'settle' for a long time. Not until competition arrives from new foundries (several years out, although they _are_ being planned and built) and competition from Intel and their GPU platform appears and eventually becomes competitive. So your wait will be a couple years longer. Proof Of Stake wit…

Apple’s move, a decade ago, to control their own silicon seems quite prescient.

They have their own chip designs, but the manufacturing is done by TSMC.

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

#314

Post by f6v » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #298

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #32

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…

> This is yet another way we’re all forced to pay the price for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has existed for more than a decade. This is yet another way we're all forced to pay the price for COVID-19. When everybody started working from home, companies whose employees had desktops had to buy them all laptops. People with old home computers bought newer ones once they started using them 14 hours a day instead of two. Deman…

> Bitcoin has existed for more than a decade.

But I haven't seen "buy bitcoin here" signs in the cities(that aren't tech hubs) until recently. Now people are randomly asking "what's the next big crypto?" trying to make quick money.

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

#315

Post by reviews-chat » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

zitterbewegung wrote: post #152

cletus wrote: 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.

agreed

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

#316

Post by bpodgursky » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #183

drcode wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not for Bitcoin. PoS is a broken system that reinvents oligarchies. Proof of Work is the only secure protocol that works today -- possessing the real, desirable properties like decentralization and censorship resistance. Don't tell me about vaporware ETH2. The end goal for Bitcoin is Dyson spheres around stars. And it can be no other way.

If you don't want to hear about ETH2 (which is, for the record, not vaporware), Cardano has been PoS from the start and is the #3 crypto [1]. I wouldn't be surprised if it overtook Eth soon.

[1] https://coinmarketcap.com/

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

#317

Post by quickthrowman » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

bingohbangoh wrote: post #264

cletus wrote: 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…

What about the environmental practices of banking? What about the cost of building all those buildings? What about the cost of AC? What about the cost of mining all those precious materials?

The banking system finances civilization, BTC .. doesn’t. The utility of banking v Bitcoin should be obvious, but here we are..

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

#318

Post by londons_explore » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

zsmi wrote: post #232

reportingsjr wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine if things get too out of hand that governments will step in to limit prices. Maybe.

Probably the limiting factor is one needs to make sure the customers of chips stay viable. I mean, one hopes the shortage will eventually be over and foundries will want to make sure they didn't gut their own market.

Few consumers will say "eh, modern tech is too expensive, I don't need the internet, phones, computers or cars anymore".

For most uses of tech, demand is there even if the price doubles.

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

#319

Post by rfd4sgmk8u » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

bluecalm wrote: post #186

snapcaster wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that bitcoin has been around for 2008, at what point will you personally concede that it's not likely to happen? Why would it happen now if it didn't in the first 13 years?

Madoff's scam lasted for 17 years and only collapsed because of sharp economic downturn. It could have lasted for much longer if people suddenly didn't need the cash. Bitcoin is often described as distributed Ponzi. There is little value (skipping over regulations is about the only thing it's useful for) and a lot artificial pumping. It will collapse when people need money for something else so either economic downtu…

The reality is everything is a Ponzi. Equities. Real Estate. Economies.

The thing that Bitcoiners have realized, that I think you may not have quite understood yet, is that there is no 'cash run out'. Brrrrr...

Cash is infinite. Bitcoin is not. That is part of its fundamental value proposition.

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

#320

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #32

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…

GPUs are not used to mine Bitcoin, they are used to mine Ethereum. Bitcoin is mined by different chips, also made by TSMC, but in far smaller quantities.