• Bieren@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    Called this months ago. It’s basically the same as the diamond industry. Create false scarcity to increase prices.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      It’s not really false scarcity though. It’s creating real demand to create real scarcity. It’s like if diamond miners invested in companies putting diamond tips on drills or something.

      • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Chip manufacture was also deliberately slowed. The whole industry was in on the con.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          24 hours ago

          What I’ve heard is that the companies that make memory didn’t slow production, but they didn’t ramp up production either. They kept it at the same rate, and then just watched as the prices went up. At least the workers in some of those companies went on strike so they could get a share of the immense profits.

          But, they weren’t colluding with the AI companies or nVidia. Those companies were pissed off that they had to pay top dollar for memory. They wanted the companies to invest in more production capacity so they could buy the memory for a reasonable price. But, there were only a couple of companies that manufacture memory, so it was easy for them to collude and screw over the hyperscalers (and incidentally ordinary consumers).

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        China mass produces lab grown diamonds that are indistinguishable from real ones. The diamond industry has put a lot of effort into convincing people they can tell real from fake, or else why would anyone pay “real” prices.

        Sort of funny there are constant mainstream news stories about the huge performance gap between “real” american GPUs and fake “chinese” GPUs.

        • frongt@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          The current (manufactured) hot thing in diamonds is highlighting flaws, like minor changes in color, to prove that it’s a natural diamond. It’s a real 180° from previous marketing that marked up “flawless” diamonds.

          Or, “Swarovski crystal”, which is glass, not diamond.

          As for the “fake Chinese GPUs”, yeah they’re ripoffs, and they’re improving their manufacturing process to catch up with the US very quickly.

    • cardfire@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      I kind of feel like channel-stuffing is a different Ill, maybe, or a more egregious one, on TOP of it.

      Like a hat or a purse accessory for the other crime.