Comment on Valve describes just how brutal RAM negotiations are in 2026
BrikoX@lemmy.zip 20 hours agoIt’s not really viable. There are effectively 4 fabs that actually manufacture RAM dies (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron and now YMTC). Everyone else is just a vendor that uses underlying die fabricated these companies to produce finished products. The supply chain issue is silicon dies, not end products.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Companies like Google and Apple are big enough to start their own fabs. Apple is 6 times larger than Intel.
BrikoX@lemmy.zip 15 hours ago
Do you really expect companies that can’t afford to do assembly in the US because of it being too expensive to actually invest in manufacturing fabs that require unless amount of cash flow? It’s not software where you can generate cash from thin air via service fees.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
They can afford assembly in the US but it is cheaper to do it foreign. If foreign assembly was suddenly 8x more expensive, Apple would build their own assembly.
The ram prices makes fabs cost effective for a company like Apple because the current situation isn’t going away in a few years. And Apple owning their own fab doesn’t necessarily mean made local. They will do whatever is cost effective.