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As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

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Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#21

Post by shevy-java »

vittore wrote: post #9

I've been ruminating on this past two years, with life before AI most of the compute staying cheap and pretty much 90% idle , we are finally getting to the point of using all of this compute. We probably will find more algorithms to improve efficiency of all the matrix computations, and with AI bubble same thing will happen that happened with telecom bubble and all the fiber optic stuff that turned out to be drastica…

I don't think any of this is "fascinating" - it is more of a racket scheme. They push the prices up. Governments failed the people here.

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#22

Post by shevy-java »

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #7
johnea wrote: post #2

"May rise"? Prices are already through the roof... https://www.tomsguide.com/news/live/ram-price-crisis-updates

Asus is ramping up production of ram... So lets see if they might "save us"

So far all I am seeing is an increase in prices, so any company claiming it will "ramp up production" here is, in my opinion, just lying for tactical reasons.

Governments need to intervene here. This is a mafia scheme now.

I purchased about three semi-cheap computers in the last ~5 years or so. Looking at the RAM prices, the very same units I bought (!) now cost 2.5x as much as before (here I refer to my latest computer model, from 2 years ago). This is a mafia now. I also think these AI companies should be extra taxed because they cause us economic harm here.

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#24

Post by piskov »

johnea wrote: post #5
kankerlijer wrote: post #3

Well thank th FSM that the article opens right up with buy now! No thanks, I'm kind of burnt out on mindless consumerism, I'll go pot some plants or something.

I didn't see any of that. I highly recommend disabling javascript in your browser. Yes, it makes many sites "look funny", or maybe you have to scroll past a bunch of screen sized "faceplant" "twitverse" and "instamonetize" icons, but, there are far fewer ads (like none). And of course some sites won't work at all. That's OK too, I just don't read them. If it's a news article, its almost always available on another si…

Probably using reader mode by default would be less guttural experience (and you’ll have an easy fallback).

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#25

Post by yooogurt »

shevy-java wrote: post #21
vittore wrote: post #9

I've been ruminating on this past two years, with life before AI most of the compute staying cheap and pretty much 90% idle , we are finally getting to the point of using all of this compute. We probably will find more algorithms to improve efficiency of all the matrix computations, and with AI bubble same thing will happen that happened with telecom bubble and all the fiber optic stuff that turned out to be drastica…

I don't think any of this is "fascinating" - it is more of a racket scheme. They push the prices up. Governments failed the people here.

Isn't this more easily explained by supply-demand? Supply can't quickly scale, and so with increased demand there will be increased prices.

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#27

Post by terribleperson »

shmerl wrote: post #26

> She said the next new factory expected to come online is being built by Micron in Idaho. The company says it will be operational in 2027 Isn't Micron stopping all consumer RAM production? So their factories won't help anyway.

Micron is exiting direct to consumer sales. That doesn't mean their chips couldn't end up in sticks or devices sold to consumers, just that the no-middleman Crucial brand is dead.

Also, even if no Micron RAM ever ended up in consumer hands, it would still reduce prices for consumers by increasing the supply to other segments of the market.

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#28

Post by throwaway94275 »

shevy-java wrote: post #19

I now consider this a mafia that aims to milk us for more money. This includes all AI companies but also manufacturers who happily benefit from this. It is a de-facto monopoly. Governments need to stop allowing this milking scheme to happen.

"Monopoly" means one seller, so you can't say multiple X makes a monopoly and make sense. You probably mean collusion.

If demand exceeds supply, either prices rise or supply falls, causing shortages. Directly controlling sellers (prices) or buyers (rationing) results in black markets unless enforcement has enough strength and integrity. The required strength and integrity seems to scale exponentially with the value of the good, so it's typically effectively impossible to prevent out-of-spec behavior for anything not cheap.

If everyone wants chips, semiconductor manufacturing supply should be increased. Governments should subsidize domestic semiconductor industries and the conditions for them to thrive (education, etc.) to meet both goals of domestic and economic security, and do it in a way that works.

The alternative is decreasing demand. Governments could hold bounty and incentive programs for building electronics that last a long time or are repairable or recyclable, but it's entirely possible the market will eventually do that.

Re: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

#29

Post by yupyupyups »

shevy-java wrote: post #19

I now consider this a mafia that aims to milk us for more money. This includes all AI companies but also manufacturers who happily benefit from this. It is a de-facto monopoly. Governments need to stop allowing this milking scheme to happen.

Why would government officials and politicians want to stop making money?
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