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TSMC hikes chip prices up to 20% amid supply shortage

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

#321

Post by hackingforfun »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #294
vmception wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (and from what we're able to tell, it is not, instead we see coal and natural gas plants being ramped up to power bitcoin farms) like I said, advocate against those specific mining sites. those made headlines in your world, while others did not. A lot of captured energy mining occurs at remote flare gas sites, where those sites are in the business of pumping oil and flaring off byproducts and not in the business of…

OK, but those exact same places could power servers instead of miners, taking a load off of wherever the servers are currently hosted.

It's cheaper for them to just flare the gas. The only thing that has made economic sense, as an alternative to flaring it, is to mine Bitcoin. I understand the energy criticism, but flare gas is an example where Bitcoin mining actually makes something less polluting.

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

#322

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#323

Post by rfd4sgmk8u »

adamc wrote: post #218
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…

https://qz.com/2023032/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-use/ Thanks for making me look at this. We should ban cryptocurrencies.

What you are proposing is an authoritarian regime that can control what software is permitted to be run.

This is madness, and will doom humanity. There is a reason that free speech is such a critical component of free societies.

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

#324

Post by rfd4sgmk8u »

colinmhayes wrote: post #229
neb_b wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people that need it won't sell. Bitcoin is most useful in countries already living under authoritarian rule with no access to traditional banking.

Almost none of bitcoins usage is by the people that need it.

What makes you say this? Nigeria, a country with a currency that loses purchasing parity power every year, has the highest per capita usage of Bitcoin in the world.

Sounds like the people that need it ARE using it...

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

#325

Post by vmception »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #294
vmception wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (and from what we're able to tell, it is not, instead we see coal and natural gas plants being ramped up to power bitcoin farms) like I said, advocate against those specific mining sites. those made headlines in your world, while others did not. A lot of captured energy mining occurs at remote flare gas sites, where those sites are in the business of pumping oil and flaring off byproducts and not in the business of…

OK, but those exact same places could power servers instead of miners, taking a load off of wherever the servers are currently hosted.

> OK, but those exact same places could power servers instead of miners, taking a load off of wherever the servers are currently hosted.

They don't have good internet. Which I wrote earlier. Crypto mining don't need good internet, it barely needs any good internet speed and barely needs decent latency - by design (blockchains allow anything from 2 seconds - 2000 milliseconds - to 10 minutes - 600000 milliseconds - for the majority of miners on the whole planet to reach the same state together, under the assumption that some nodes will have slow data and low latency. So a 500-900ms latency connection in the middle of nowhere is quite fine, not optimal but good enough for consistent average earnings). Other data heavy computational uses require the opposite of that, these remote sites are not going to get the plumbing for good internet or prioritize it. The main issue is that they won't prioritize it because they aren't interested in it, they are technophobic oil guys that are slowly being convinced by crypto investors to solve their pollution problem. The crypto people don't need anything except a little space.

The issue with imagining that everyone else could do it, is that everyone else doesn't need to do it. A data center can set up in the middle of the desert along any fiber line like they already do. Go ahead and tell them "hey instead of using this readily available property can you go set up at the oil refinery after making an unnecessary partnership with that unrelated business because I don't like that crypto people are doing it, you also need to invest in laying some pipes out there" if you really think that is practical or necessary, be my guest.

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

#326

Post by quantumBerry »

rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #301
mrRandomGuy wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bitcoin gang doesn't like it when people point out that the entire thing is fucking useless.

I'm sorry you don't find it useful. I do find it useful, in fact millions more like me do. Usefulness is a subjective measurement. If you think we are crazy, that's OK. Bitcoin is opt-in. You can choose to ignore it, you can think its fucking useless, but in my opinion, you are wrong.

If this person had 1 BTC, I suddenly think they would not find it so useless. I think they would find a use for it rather quickly.

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

#327

Post by segphault »

noelherrick wrote: post #283

Gosh I wish Apple with their loads of cash and drive to have the highest performing chip would get big ole fabs on US and EU shores. The fact that a disputed country owns the best fabs is downright scary for the future of the world (add in that the disputing country is the next superpower).

TSMC is building a $12b manufacturing facility in Arizona that will be able to produce the 5nm chips used in Apple products. They are fully aware of the geopolitical risks and are taking responsible steps to mitigate them.

To the extent that the higher unit prices help them cover those investments, I'm more than happy to pay whatever portion of the increase gets passed on to consumers.

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

#329

Post by Taek »

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…

Cryptocurrency chips are less than 5% of TSMCs total production, it's not the major driving force in the shortage.

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

#330

Post by bodyfour »

rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #301
mrRandomGuy wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bitcoin gang doesn't like it when people point out that the entire thing is fucking useless.

I'm sorry you don't find it useful. I do find it useful, in fact millions more like me do. Usefulness is a subjective measurement. If you think we are crazy, that's OK. Bitcoin is opt-in. You can choose to ignore it, you can think its fucking useless, but in my opinion, you are wrong.

That's great news... so how do I opt-out of the CO₂ that BTC is generating?
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