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TheAmorphous t1_j1uz2y6 wrote

Reply to comment by Asuka_Rei in Chipmakers Struggle With Inventory Buildup On Pandemic Demand Correction by Genevieves_bitch

Doesn't seem like car makers would be buying chips from the same nodes as, say, GPU manufacturers. GPUs are always cutting edge nodes. The chips that go into cars are ancient by comparison. How does one impact the other?

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BadKarmaSimulator t1_j1v15fj wrote

Existing chip manufacturing lines were purchased and repurposed by other industries like GPU card makers. Now automakers need that volume back, but they have to either buy out and re-repurpose the card manufacturers' lines or wait for new manufacturing to come online. Neither happens cheaply or quickly.

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jeffinRTP t1_j1v1mkk wrote

That's what I was wondering about. There was articles about the chips they use were ancient like you said and they were not being made that much. It might be that the manufacturer moved to higher priced chips and retired the old fab equipment.

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empirebuilder1 t1_j1x6xs0 wrote

> It might be that the manufacturer moved to higher priced chips and retired the old fab equipment.

That's exactly what happened. Square footage in a fab clean room is $$$$$$. If there's no orders coming in for an older process that shit gets chucked and replaced with new equipment running modern nodes faster than your mother can suck down a hot dog. And automotive was the worst offender at being dead stuck on old processes, because retooling their own integrated components is money they hate spending.

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DrB00 t1_j1xefx6 wrote

It's simply silicone and they can craft the chips into w.e they want. So it isn’t the exact same chip bur the silicone required to make the chip is the same.

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