I can't fault the brokers for doing what they do, but one MCU I tried to source the other week had a 40x markup from normal. Yes, 4000%.
Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
11–20 of 84 posts
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#12> one large industrial conglomerate had resorted to buying washing machines just to scavenge the chips inside them for its products Is this really more efficient than say, contacting the washing machine manufacturer and buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). I usually applaud hacky solutions, but this just feels like a ton of unnecessary waste. I would prefer scrapping features (like…
> buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost).
Industries often act illogically in cases like this. You see it with many types of goods ordered a long time in advance.
If there is a sudden shortage, the people who have ordered their raw materials a long time in advance (who have effectively purchased a future for that commodity) think they made a good move and see it as a business advantage that they can continue production while their competitors who failed to plan cannot.
However, they often fail to see that it is an even better business move to still shut down production and sell those raw materials onwards to someone else who will pay handsomely for them.
Basically, the futures market should never determine if a factory is operating or not. If it does, then someone has made an irrational decision.
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#13Starlink provides a router with their ISP package. For the last year the router comes without an ethernet port. Wireless only. They've never said why but I assume it's because of a chip shortage. (There is an add-on for ethernet you can order for a modest price.)
ResMed started selling a version of their popular AirSense 10 AutoSet sleep apnea machine without a cellular modem. Normally the product uploads treatment data to some cloud service that ResMed then resells to your doctor. Again they haven't said explicitly but it sounds like they couldn't source the part they needed, so did without. (Hilariously the branding for this is "Card-to-Cloud", as in "you carry an SD card to your PC and upload the data manually to the cloud".)
I guess what bugs me is these companies are selling things with important features removed but aren't acknowledging they are lesser products.
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#14Starlink provides a router with their ISP package. For the last year the router comes without an ethernet port. Wireless only. They've never said why but I assume it's because of a chip shortage. (There is an add-on for ethernet you can order for a modest price.) ResMed started selling a version of their popular AirSense 10 AutoSet sleep apnea machine without a cellular modem. Normally the product uploads treatment d…
>some cloud service that ResMed then resells to your doctor.
Why would they resell to the doctor, or why would the doctor be buying the info? Seems like the user should be the one charged for the data that could then be shared with their doctor. I just don't see the business sense for it being purchased by the docs unless the docs just turn around and upcharge the patient?
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#15> one large industrial conglomerate had resorted to buying washing machines just to scavenge the chips inside them for its products Is this really more efficient than say, contacting the washing machine manufacturer and buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). I usually applaud hacky solutions, but this just feels like a ton of unnecessary waste. I would prefer scrapping features (like…
It might be more (cost) efficient to buy washing machines.
It's possible if the washing machine manufacturer knew of the real value of the chip to the buyer, they might charge extortionate pricing.
It's also possible that the total value of selling a washing machine exceeds the purchase price (e.g. how much does the washing machine manufacturer get from the detergent maker for putting a packet of detergent in the box).
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#16> one large industrial conglomerate had resorted to buying washing machines just to scavenge the chips inside them for its products Is this really more efficient than say, contacting the washing machine manufacturer and buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). I usually applaud hacky solutions, but this just feels like a ton of unnecessary waste. I would prefer scrapping features (like…
When I tried to build a mattress, I was unable to buy certain components directly from companies, no matter which ones I contacted. Had to buy mattress toppers and rip the parts out. Guess this applies to corporations too lol
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#17This article is out of date. We have chip glut situation right now, both Intel and NVIDIA have pushed back their 4nm orders. And 7/8nm already produced chips are piling up with no buyer to be found (especially GPUs).
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#18> one large industrial conglomerate had resorted to buying washing machines just to scavenge the chips inside them for its products Is this really more efficient than say, contacting the washing machine manufacturer and buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). I usually applaud hacky solutions, but this just feels like a ton of unnecessary waste. I would prefer scrapping features (like…
> buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). Industries often act illogically in cases like this. You see it with many types of goods ordered a long time in advance. If there is a sudden shortage, the people who have ordered their raw materials a long time in advance (who have effectively purchased a future for that commodity) think they made a good move and see it as a business advantage…
This is one reason I think most contracts for goods for future delivery should be public knowledge.
Ie. "Mr Smith purchased 68 tons of steel for delivery in New York June next year for $200k".
Then anyone wanting those same goods and willing to pay more can contact Mr Smith and make an offer to buy the contract.
I believe such a system would make the economy substantially more efficient, at the cost of privacy. More knowledge makes a better market. And more knowledge also increases tax revenues because under/overdeclaring goods values becomes much harder.
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#19Starlink provides a router with their ISP package. For the last year the router comes without an ethernet port. Wireless only. They've never said why but I assume it's because of a chip shortage. (There is an add-on for ethernet you can order for a modest price.) ResMed started selling a version of their popular AirSense 10 AutoSet sleep apnea machine without a cellular modem. Normally the product uploads treatment d…
>some cloud service that ResMed then resells to your doctor. Why would they resell to the doctor, or why would the doctor be buying the info? Seems like the user should be the one charged for the data that could then be shared with their doctor. I just don't see the business sense for it being purchased by the docs unless the docs just turn around and upcharge the patient?
I should clarify I'm talking about the American system. Doctors pay for access to ResMed data. It's a convenience; otherwise the patient has to carry the SD card into the doctor's office and hope they bother to upload and analyze it. (Yes, this is stupid.)
While I'm at it, patients really interested in their sleep apnea data can use OSCAR or https://sleephq.com/ to analyze the data from the ResMed SD card themselves. These don't use the cloud service. ResMed also has a limited site for the patient themselves to see a limited version of their cloud data.
Re: Companies are hacking their way around the chip shortage
#20> one large industrial conglomerate had resorted to buying washing machines just to scavenge the chips inside them for its products Is this really more efficient than say, contacting the washing machine manufacturer and buying up the chips at a premium (i.e. above the washing machine cost). I usually applaud hacky solutions, but this just feels like a ton of unnecessary waste. I would prefer scrapping features (like…
When I tried to build a mattress, I was unable to buy certain components directly from companies, no matter which ones I contacted. Had to buy mattress toppers and rip the parts out. Guess this applies to corporations too lol
There is a lot of liability and time cost involved in a transaction. It does not necessarily make sense for businesses in the business to business space to expend effort on business to consumer sales.