The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics • Hacker News Board

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#31

Post by hackyhacky » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:28 AM UTC

mhb wrote: post #26

richforrester wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally the most overwhelming thought, reading this, is "man, capitalism is a mistake" The amounts of money circulating whilst some of us struggle to make rent ... Nothing fair, or just, about this world we live in

Courtesy of TFA and capitalism: "In 1985, if you were a reasonably affluent American, the best computer that you could afford was the IBM PC AT. The PC AT would cost you about $6,000—$19,400 in 2026 dollars—and thus represented about a quarter of the median American’s annual income; and it ran on an Intel 80286 processor, capable of something like 900,000 instructions per second. Today, if you find yourself in a mark…

This quote has nothing to do with capitalism.

Please note that "commerce" and "capitalism" are not synonymous, and that the former does not imply the latter. Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#32

Post by rationalist » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:28 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #22

krackers wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing I've really been a bit tempted by is Lidar on Apple Maybe in that vein, one thing I wish phones would do to differentiate themselves is just add more sensors. I want my phone to be the tricorder from star trek. iPhones should have first party support for generating point clouds and measuring distances using lidar. Their microphones are probably already calibrated, why not expose that as a decibel met…

They're out there. Caterpillar makes a smartphone with a FLIR camera.

I so wanted one of those, but then when I heard about their poor to non-existent software/OS updates, I stayed away. I'll stick with my USB-C FLIR dongle.

That's the problem with non-Google and non-Apple phones.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#33

Post by lesuorac » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:30 AM UTC

swatcoder wrote: post #19

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #15

What was most surprising about all this to me was this line: > So modern DRAM manufacturing is an extraordinarily complex and expensive process. Building a single state-of-the-art DRAM fabrication facility, a “fab,” will cost you about $15 to $20 billion; acquiring all the necessary equipment, like lithography tools and etching machines, will cost you another few billion; and then it’ll take you a few years of produc…

And what happens if the market settles back down or the leading memory tech pivots away from what you invested all this capital and time chasing? You'd need a very strong, very particular forecast to make such a costly bet. And conversely, it may say something about their internal forecasts that they're not making the bet.

> And conversely, it may say something about their internal forecasts that they're not making the bet.

Idk if you can read into it that way.

All these companies have cafeterias but you don't see them investing into farmland so they can get their bananas a few cents cheaper.

But also why bother spending 20B on a fab when you can invest 20B into TSMC and let them build the fab?

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#34

Post by richforrester » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:30 AM UTC

mhb wrote: post #26

richforrester wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally the most overwhelming thought, reading this, is "man, capitalism is a mistake" The amounts of money circulating whilst some of us struggle to make rent ... Nothing fair, or just, about this world we live in

Courtesy of TFA and capitalism: "In 1985, if you were a reasonably affluent American, the best computer that you could afford was the IBM PC AT. The PC AT would cost you about $6,000—$19,400 in 2026 dollars—and thus represented about a quarter of the median American’s annual income; and it ran on an Intel 80286 processor, capable of something like 900,000 instructions per second. Today, if you find yourself in a mark…

That has little to do with what I said.

A third of the world lives in poverty. That's the fault of capitalism.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#35

Post by nyc_data_geek1 » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:31 AM UTC

Viacol wrote: post #23

At Xiaomi's latest smartphone launch event, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said that memory prices are likely to keep rising over the next two years, which could drive smartphone prices up as well. His conclusion was pretty direct: everyone should just replace their phones now. Kind of a depressing story.

He could be right, or he could just be a phone company CEO trying to get you to buy a new phone, or he could be both.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#36

Post by rationalist » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:31 AM UTC

ls612 wrote: post #21

I’m really wishing I had overbuilt my NAS last year. As it stands I feel lucky to have even built it at all given I bought all the parts in the last week of September. My 4090 and 12900k are gonna have to last till 2029 at this rate won’t they…

Won't processors come down in price because people are buying less of them because people are buying less computers because of higher RAM prices?

I've heard that is happening for motherboards.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#37

Post by CamperBob2 » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:32 AM UTC

hackyhacky wrote: post #31

mhb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Courtesy of TFA and capitalism: "In 1985, if you were a reasonably affluent American, the best computer that you could afford was the IBM PC AT. The PC AT would cost you about $6,000—$19,400 in 2026 dollars—and thus represented about a quarter of the median American’s annual income; and it ran on an Intel 80286 processor, capable of something like 900,000 instructions per second. Today, if you find yourself in a mark…

This quote has nothing to do with capitalism. Please note that "commerce" and "capitalism" are not synonymous, and that the former does not imply the latter. Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development.

Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development.

Really? Who else builds stuff?

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#38

Post by CamperBob2 » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:33 AM UTC

richforrester wrote: post #34

mhb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Courtesy of TFA and capitalism: "In 1985, if you were a reasonably affluent American, the best computer that you could afford was the IBM PC AT. The PC AT would cost you about $6,000—$19,400 in 2026 dollars—and thus represented about a quarter of the median American’s annual income; and it ran on an Intel 80286 processor, capable of something like 900,000 instructions per second. Today, if you find yourself in a mark…

That has little to do with what I said. A third of the world lives in poverty. That's the fault of capitalism.

Really? What other systems are better at lifting people out of poverty (without killing a few tens of millions in the process?)

There are so many other places where this sort of low-effort high-school edgelording fits in better than here.

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#39

Post by hackyhacky » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:34 AM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #37

hackyhacky wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This quote has nothing to do with capitalism. Please note that "commerce" and "capitalism" are not synonymous, and that the former does not imply the latter. Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development.

Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development. Really? Who else builds stuff?

> Really? Who else builds stuff?

Said the Christian in pre-Englightenment Europe: "Well, of course Christianity is the one true religion. After all, the whole civilized world is Christian."

Re: The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics

#40

Post by CamperBob2 » Fri, May 22, 2026, 1:35 AM UTC

hackyhacky wrote: post #39

CamperBob2 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism is in no way a prerequisite for technological development. Really? Who else builds stuff?

> Really? Who else builds stuff? Said the Christian in pre-Englightenment Europe: "Well, of course Christianity is the one true religion. After all, the whole civilized world is Christian."

That doesn't answer my question.