Samsung to cut chip production after profits plunge 96%

[butterscotch]

Samsung is cutting its chip production because of low profits. There had been a chip shortage earlier but demand for electronics reduced after covid.

I can’t decide if this means electronics will go up or down in price.

Demand for memory chips ramped up during Covid-induced lockdowns as consumers bought new electronics to use at home.

The industry is now recovering from a chip shortage over the past couple of years, but many semiconductor manufacturers are struggling to find a balance between their inventories and current demand.

“When the overall economy slowed down, suddenly the demand for these end products slowed. So, the makers of these end products stopped ordering chips and focused on selling through the inventory they already had,” said analyst Peter Hanbury from management consultancy Bain & Company.

“This led to a strong ‘bullwhip’ effect for semiconductor makers further back in the supply chain, where sky-high demand during the chip shortage suddenly dried up”, he added.

Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of televisions, tablets and smartphones, had resisted the move to cut memory chip production compared to its competitors.

Samsung to cut chip production after profits plunge 96%

[Bruce]

You missed out the important word “memory”, many companies can make memory chips.

They are a simple beast compared to processor chips

[OldGreyFox]

@Bruce

You missed out the important word “memory”, many companies can make memory chips.

They are a simple beast compared to processor chips

Apparently not many companies can manufacture memory chips, the machines required to etch the nano circuits onto a piece of silicon are very rare and expensive, consequently only the large electronics giants can afford them.

MOSFET – The Most significant invention of the 20th Century

[butterscotch]

@Bruce

You missed out the important word “memory”, many companies can make memory chips.

They are a simple beast compared to processor chips

Even if your statement were true, which it doesn’t appear to be unless you consider 2 others to be “many”, how would that affect the price of electronics?

There are only a handful of semiconductor manufacturers with the capability to produce DRAM chips, and they are Micron (Crucial), Samsung, and Hynix.

The Truth about Memory Manufacturers

[Bruce]

@butterscotch

Even if your statement were true, which it doesn’t appear to be unless you consider 2 others to be “many”, how would that affect the price of electronics?

That’s 200% more than Samsung. How many do you need?

The 10 Largest DRAM Manufacturers in the World

[butterscotch]

@Bruce

That’s 200% more than Samsung. How many do you need?

As many as you need to answer the question in the OP. Since that doesn’t look like it will be happening, I don’t need any since it was you who brought up the point with no apparent significance.

[AnnieS]

@butterscotch

Samsung is cutting its chip production because of low profits. There had been a chip shortage earlier but demand for electronics reduced after covid.

I can’t decide if this means electronics will go up or down in price.

It means more reliance on the cloud. So more money for cloud provision. The almost forced transfer to cloud services is probably also the reason profits are down on chips. It’s like cheques vs e banking etc. So it shouldn’t mean electronics will go up in price if they have cloud compatibility, but it does make us more reliant on what is a huge infrastructure reliant increasingly on satellites run by private enterprise. It’s all a big risk IMO. So many services are now reliant on the whole system working.

[OldGreyFox]

@AnnieS

It’s all a big risk IMO. So many services are now reliant on the whole system working.

Providing we don’t have a massive geo-magnetic storm…It has happened in the past…

[AnnieS]

I’m not sure whether many parts of the world are organised enough to have a surefast back up plan. Or whether they have adequate maintenance plans, natural resource planning including fragile supply chains.

[Ripple]

I couldn’t buy the car I wanted partly due to a chip shortage.

[OldGreyFox]

There’s a bloke in our street been waiting ages for a new Lexus. I reckon it must be the same thing Ripple.

[Ripple]

@OldGreyFox

There’s a bloke in our street been waiting ages for a new Lexus. I reckon it must be the same thing Ripple.

I’m sure you are right .
In the end after waiting a year for a Rav with no end in sight.
I went for a Lexus , like your neighbour nothing available new indeed stopped taking orders until 2024 for the model I wanted .
I settled for a nearly new preloved Lexus.
It’s a lovely car .