Win-Lose-Draw: Yesterdays papers addressed the question how Sellers screw the SMALLER vendors of Tech Goods forcing them into to End Load the Q for better discounts. It is only natural that the Brokers for the Vendors of ASICS's to these SMALL Companies do the same to improve their Monopoly.
The analogy is fine, except you've got the roles reversed. There is a lot of excess manufacturing capacity, and in this case it's not the fab that's in the monopolistic position, it's the guy with a design for an ASIC that occupies that position. Right now there is much more ability to make ASICs than there are ASICs to actually make.
In the short run, like over a very few months, a fab could screw over a customer, but there is precious little they can do to keep you from moving to another fab. Now, if you're also getting IP (silicon kind, not internet kind) from your vendor, well, that's a different story.
There was a time when it wasn't like this. And that time might come again, as well. But for now, the designer not the manufacturer is the one sitting on the item in short supply. |
