The first high-yield, sub-penny plastic processor

I'd draw the line by trying to evaluate the utility of adding electronics vs. not adding it.

RFID tags on clothing and other such items - good and reasonable, because it aids with logistics and has no major downsides for the customer (and potentially adds value, e.g. by including washing instruction for supported washing machines that could warn you if the settings don't match the clothes the put in).

Adding internet connectivity to most household appliances - questionable at best, actually reducing utility at worst (see [0]).

AI-powered fridges [1] - bad value, gimmicky idea that drives up prices, makes the system more prone to failure (added complexity), more expensive, and adds little to no value:

So you want to know what's in your fridge while standing in front of it?

Good idea: just open it to take a peek inside.

Bad idea: adding an LCD screen to the door that activates if you knock on the fridge door [2]

So you want to know what's inside your fridge at home while grocery shopping, so you don't accidentally forget to buy something or buy something you already have?

Bad idea: add AI powered item detection and internet connectivity to your fridge that then communicates with your smartphone, may get bricked remotely [0], get infected by malware, or become expensive to fix.

Good idea: add the same functionality in the form of a smartphone app that either scans barcodes or uses (local!) AI to identify items (e.g. by taking a snapshot of the fridge's content) and that can auto-generate a shopping list for refilling the fridge or by matching its content against a weekly plan of meals (feel free to implement this idea and make millions of it, I'll allow it).

There's certainly more and better examples to be found if you look for them, but these are just some quick examples illustrating what a quick cost-benefit-analysis could look like.

[0] https://www.electromaker.io/blog/article/electrolux-accident...

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/2/21046822/samsung-lg-smart-...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4aeGzafgbQ

No need to go so far back, this comic calling mobile phones a horror is from 1919.

https://boingboing.net/2018/01/31/century-old-comic-accurate...

We are all thinking bananas (with a little rounding) [0]

[0]: https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/how_genetically_related...

Do we not have ubiquitous electronics already? What hasn't got electronics shoved it that could meaningfully use them?

The 2000 Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded for the discovery of organic/polymer semiconductors. The field's come a long way and there has been lots of innovation happening since. Prototypes of polymer-based ICs is nothing new (I've seen plenty of them over the last decade). Metal is still preferred for interconnects, but that's pretty cheap to process in roll-to-roll. I can vouch for this being legit. That said, polymers (soft matter) doesn't do well in heat (or light), so applications are (and will forever be) restricted to low-cost throw-away devices IMO.

Shameful plug: I'm first author of this paper reporting a world record for transistor transconductance (all technologies combined). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/advs.2015003...