CPU prices could rise as Apple takes 50% of next gen manufacturing
CPU prices could rise as Apple takes 50% of next gen manufacturing
With TSMC's 3nm process set to be the preferred choice for future GPUs and processors, Nvidia, Intel, and AMD have to compete with Apple.
The smartest thing Apple has done in the past decade is buy TSMC a factory. They just gave a TSMC a factory for free, with the deal being they have guaranteed time every year, no fighting.
That's what let them make their own laptop cpus, time. The M cpus aren't good because of arm, or apple geniuses, but rather TSMC bleeding edge tech and high yeilds. And of course, every company that didn't buy TSMC a factory has to fight for time, meaning everyone else loses out.
The costs of being a bleeding edge chip fab make reproducing tsmc elsewhere unattainable.
Agree with apples deal but they play a huge role in designing the chips like all their components. (Ex. Apple designed Samsung screens have a reject rate of about 50% and was higher when the X came out). And their Rosetta translation layer is incredibly efficient. Took Microsoft years to develop a worse version.
The software aspect I won't argue with. But I will go against the chip design. In 2024, most parts of most chips are built from library prefabs, and outside of that, all the efficiencies come from taking advantage of what the chip fab is offering.
That's why these made up nm numbers are so important. They are effectively marketing and don't have much basis in reality (euv wavelength is 13nm~, but we're claiming 6 now) - what they do indicate is improvements in other aspects of lithography.
Apple aren't the geniuses here, which is why their M chips were bested by intels euv chips as soon as Intel upgraded its fabs to be more advanced than tsmc for six months. It's all about who's fsb is running the bleeding edge.
ARM is good though. Low power consumption. I'm glad somebody made it more mainstream. I have a 2010 Arm Board NAS that streams video (1080), and music DLNA, hosts SMB shares, with web gui all on 256MB of RAM.
Ah why not. Everything is already very affordable might as well raise some prices. Now do my income.
We should all just stop buying shit. Maybe prices will drop again lol.
Wishful thinking..
Honestly, this is probably a better solution than you might have guessed. Especially when it comes to fake inflation price hikes.
Companies have this way of shit-testing the economy to see what you're willing to pay. If there isn't a significant reduction in turnover rates, then say hello to the new prices!
Prime example being NVIDIA with their bogus GPU pricing. Turns out that their shit still sells at $2000 a GPU, and people seem way to quick to accept this as the new reality.
If we all agreed that $2000 GPUs, $3000 laptops and $1500 phones are bullshit, those price points wouldn't exist. Unfortunately we live in a world where normies are more interested in fancy features and the general public is incapable of estimating specs based on their needs. Which leaves all of us being played for absolute fools by companies manipulating the supply chain.
Just raise everything at this point because why not
fuck apple, just for good measure
