Memory prices tipped to fall as China starts flooding the market with DRAM and NAND chips
(www.techspot.com)
from FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 26 May 01:36
https://sh.itjust.works/post/60788520
from FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 26 May 01:36
https://sh.itjust.works/post/60788520
cross-posted from: lemmy.radio/post/13448746
#world
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Man, China as a country is certainly poised at this point to really pull some wild political optics with this move. Their manufacturing quality has been noticeably improving in recent years and their tech industry has a huge opportunity to show up western firms by undercutting the shit out of them in consumer NAND and DRAM. It would be wise of them to take QA extra seriously over the next couple of years to make themselves the “heroes” of the people by delivering better quality and dramatically lower prices than those bloated western companies. Hell, I’m even possibly in the market for it soon if the price is right. I have a feeling western corpos will continue snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and not notice that some of these Chinese corporations already quietly got their shit together a while back and probably won’t shoot themselves in the foot this time. This could be the optical turning point for China as an economic power.
Hopefully the Chinese people can continue making progress in fighting the CCP bourgeois for better labor rights, especially with western corporations losing access to terrible enforcement of already inadequate CCP labor laws. The Chinese workers will start having a hell of a lot better bargaining position with this development and the ACFTU/CCP can get fucked.
The optical turning point is here for a lot of things.
The non-US world is seriously considering Chinese cars, which was always a high burden to clear (see Japan and Korea getting their manufacturing together enough to field a competitive product)
I suspect we’ll see some flailed attempt to block Chinese RAM from the US market (cf. The router fiasco) but this one might have enough corporate inertia to sail through. When every business in the country can’t afford even basic 16GB office desktops, Intel, Dell, HP, and Apple are probably going to be making compelling arguments to their captive legislators. This might be the only way to avoid huge losses on their non-datacentre product lines.
Yep, I keep forgetting about Chinese EVs. However, and pretty much exactly to your point, I think the US and western corpos are gonna have a much harder time keeping out Chinese RAM versus the relative ease of keeping out very conspicuous (in more than one way) Chinese EVs. The US government can make trade protectionism work, but that requires serious investment in domestic production in the same targeted sectors that get tariffed and uhhh… well. Happy early birthday, Chinese renewables, I guess?
I guess one of the reasons they are where they are is centralized planning through CCP, very cheap labor and possible really bad working conditions. Take those out of equation and who knows what happens, but it most certainly won’t be good for the consumer. That said I really do hope they improve their work conditions.
Pretty sure the primary driver is the cheap labor. The poor working conditions kinda go hand in hand with that. However, with a shift toward domestic Chinese firms directly dependent on domestic Chinese labor, that gives the workers there a ton more leverage versus when it’s western corporations that can threaten to move elsewhere. A win for Chinese workers is a win for all of us.
Seriously, both large American companies and American government have adopted the attitude of “Haha we’re fucking up everyone’s lives and the world for our own benefit, watcha gonna do about it?”. That leaves the space wide open and the bar so low, that China’s government and companies can clear it and appear like decent actors, even if some of my gripes with both remain.
Yeah, with Trump and the weak Biden administrations they got what they wanted, complete immunity.
The only thing causing issues for them now is the EU, but they have pointed their massive lobby machine toward them.
I seem to recall the EU being fucking stupid and signing a deal that they will accept US safety standards on US made cars.
Wasn’t there also a law that said that American cloud providers that wanted EU business had to build EU only datacenters for the EU customer’s data that would not be shared with the US, the providers promptly broke that law and the EU ignored it
To clarify, I think you are talking about “US companies and their lobbyists” when you say “they” here. And I agree with you.
Yeah, you got me right
It’s certainly an opportunity in global soft power for the CCP, but I think the headline here is better framed as a shift in global economic power, specifically in tech. The current American government is certainly fucking things up for American soft power globally, but the political capital built up over the decades just can’t be ignored as that just doesn’t disappear overnight. Not to mention the human rights violations in Xinjiang, government corruption problems, aggressive naval maneuvering, and recent isolationist past that the Chinese CCP needs to overcome to become a serious contender as the new number one. They’re kinda making their way through it, but it’s definitely not inevitable, and too many short-term and long-term metrics are working against them. This particular situation could certainly be a solid foundation to build on, but the CCP and many Chinese vulture capitalists have a history of shooting themselves in the foot for short-term gains.
I’m glad you have mentioned some of the biggest of my gripes, because I didn’t get to it in my original comment to keep it succinct and cohesive. And we’ll see what happens, I agree it’s not inevitable but this is like China’s best shot at world dominance through soft power that its had yet. I think certain members in the CCP have some awareness that invading Taiwan is going to, maybe counterintuitively, blow up the opportunity and the soft power credibility they built through Belt and Road.
Yeah, I think that really is the foundational tension in China; the internal power struggle of a deeply authoritarian CCP versus the cooperative stance needed to gain/build political capital worldwide. As it stands, their system will resist any legitimately populist movement and disincintivize honest efforts to dismantle harsh authoritarian policies and violent state oppression. You don’t maintain power (or your life) in a quasi-dictatorial party without keeping those who benefit from the system happy.
Should I go back to Microcenter and return my RAM?
Ah dang, just outside the return window!
Don’t threaten me with a good time. Deliver it.