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Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

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Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#51

Post by Muromec »

hodgehog11 wrote: post #35
embedding-shape wrote: post #15

> Budget brands normally buy older DRAM fabrication equipment from mega-producers like Samsung when Samsung upgrades their DRAM lines to the latest and greatest equipment. This allows the DRAM market to expand more than it would otherwise because it makes any upgrading of the fanciest production lines to still be additive change to the market. However, Korean memory firms have been terrified that reselling old equipm…

We left behind any pretense of a free global market once we entered a post-tariff world. You can't have large universal tariffs or even the threat of them and expect the market to act freely, the two are fundamentally incompatible.

Oh, the market will find a way around this too. The more US uses this particular button the less effective it becomes.

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#52

Post by ajross »

armaautomotive wrote: post #30
ajross wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market manipulation is a crime under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You can't buy things to influence the price or the market, only to use or resell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_manipulation

Do you think OpenAI plans to trade the semiconductor market? This would only apply in that scenario.

No, they want DRAM to be expensive to give them a competitive advantage over their competitors.

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#53

Post by willis936 »

imbusy111 wrote: post #13
mlsu wrote: post #11

Moves like this should be illegal. It's becoming increasingly clear that OpenAI is going to get lapped by Google on technical merits. So this is the "code red" solution? Supply shenanigans? They are getting beat in the developer market by Anthropic. And getting beat on fundamental tech by Google. This is a company whose ostensible mission is to "benefit all of humanity" ...

Seems like it is, but the question is whether the current Justice Department will do anything about it.

I read "US Justice Department" the same way I read "Britain's Ministry of Truth".

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#54

Post by theturtle »

ajross wrote: post #23
semiquaver wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seems like it is Do you have a citation for what law is being violated? Or just vibes?

Market manipulation is a crime under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You can't buy things to influence the price or the market, only to use or resell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_manipulation

[dead]

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#56

Post by hamandcheese »

roadbuster wrote: post #40

> To be clear - the shock wasn’t that OpenAI made a big deal, no, it was that they made two massive deals this big, at the same time, with Samsung and SK Hynix simultaneously That's not "dirty." That's hiding your intentions from suppliers so they don't crank prices before you walk through their front door. If you want to buy a cake, never let the baker know it's for a wedding.

That's not the dirty part. This is the dirty part:

> OpenAI isn’t even bothering to buy finished memory modules! No, their deals are unprecedentedly only for raw wafers — uncut, unfinished, and not even allocated to a specific DRAM standard yet. It’s not even clear if they have decided yet on how or when they will finish them into RAM sticks or HBM! Right now it seems like these wafers will just be stockpiled in warehouses

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#57

Post by yesimahuman »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #34

Altman was already unpopular. After this will he be able to show his face in Silicon Valley?

And all these data centers they want to build around the country. When consumers can’t get devices they want maybe they’ll fight even harder against these data centers being built in their back yard. He’s not making any fans with this move that’s for sure

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#58

Post by didibus »

roadbuster wrote: post #40

> To be clear - the shock wasn’t that OpenAI made a big deal, no, it was that they made two massive deals this big, at the same time, with Samsung and SK Hynix simultaneously That's not "dirty." That's hiding your intentions from suppliers so they don't crank prices before you walk through their front door. If you want to buy a cake, never let the baker know it's for a wedding.

What they mean is that they bought 40% of all RAM production, they managed to do that by simultaneously making two big deals at the same time. It's buying up 40% of all RAM production with the intention to have most of it idle in warehouses that is "dirty". And in order to be able to do that, they needed to be secretive and time two big deals at the same time.

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#59

Post by [deleted] »

embedding-shape wrote: post #15

> Budget brands normally buy older DRAM fabrication equipment from mega-producers like Samsung when Samsung upgrades their DRAM lines to the latest and greatest equipment. This allows the DRAM market to expand more than it would otherwise because it makes any upgrading of the fanciest production lines to still be additive change to the market. However, Korean memory firms have been terrified that reselling old equipm…

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal

#60

Post by bee_rider »

embedding-shape wrote: post #39
bee_rider wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err… is there any question that the US is trying to slow down China’s high-tech computer development? I thought that was our open goal. Countries decided the extent to which they’d like to engage in free trade together. It is a knob that we’d hope our leaders would turn strategically. (Regardless of whether or not we think our leaders actually are doing a good job of it…).

> I thought that was our open goal. Is the goal also to hurt South Korean businesses and all businesses in the world, just to "pwn China" basically?

We’re probably also spurring China to develop more independently. I don’t think it is a good plan, just an unconfusing one.
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