Thread

1. karlkloss · 1790854478 · focus · HN ↗

   We just buried an ASIC design that was nearly finished. Reason: There was a deviation that would've needed a mask change, but because of AI chip demand, the manufacturer wanted so much money for it, that we said screw it.

   So we now have AI powered chip design tools that make chip design cheaper, but because of AI, chip manufacturing has become so expensive, that we can't afford it anymore.

   Nice.

   1. teitoklien · 1790855414 · focus · HN ↗

      AI didn’t make chip manufacturing more expensive

      Manufacturers choosing not to scale with demand or not being able to scale with demand

      Is what constrained the supply.

      Hopefully will be fixed within a decade , then it’s cool new stuff all the way.

      1. imglorp · 1790858532 · focus · HN ↗

         Why aren't boring, old process ASICs isolated from this mess?

         1. throwup238 · 1790888277 · focus · HN ↗

            There’s a lot of other boring chips on a server motherboard beyond the RAM and CPU that share older processes with everyone else making silicon. Stuff like power management ICs needed to bring up power to a chip in the right order, which were an annoyance even before COVID and AI.

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