Thread

1. shevy-java · 1789929023 · focus · HN ↗

   About 2 years ago I bought some SDRAM or something like that, DDR4 or DDR5, don't recall offhand. A few months ago I looked at the price today, and it was over 3x as high. That's just insane. Governments need to do something against this abuse system that AI amplified here.

   1. digdigdag · 1789929314 · focus · HN ↗

      > Governments need to do something against this abuse system that AI amplified here.

      Which governments, and what exactly would you want these governments to do? The demand is global. There are no levers a single government can pull to meaningfully influence the global demand without fully committing to an protectionist economic policy, in which case the U.S. doesn't have the facilities to magically pop up world class fabs overnight, and South Korea and Taiwan don't have the market demand that the U.S. generates to justify their investments in making these chips and China lacks the IP to be able to build anything comparable to Nvidia's silicon at the moment.

      No one has all the cards and no one controls all the levers.

      1. carlm42 · 1789929936 · focus · HN ↗

         Governments have sued DRAM companies for price fixing and forming cartels before: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DRAM_industry_price_fixing" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DRAM_industry_price_fixing. They can absolutely step in and if there are evidence of price fixing or anti-competitive behaviours, can impose fines. The choice of whether to do that though is political.

         1. daedrdev · 1789932137 · focus · HN ↗

            Several of these companies almost went under before the AI boom. There isn’t a cartel.

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