Imagine how much good will and long-term profit any given manufacturer could generate right now just by creating consumer-facing parts at a reasonable price and refusing to cater their supply lines to datacenters. The right move now could buy loyalty for decades. People remember.
Yeah but they won’t, because good will access loyalty isn’t worth 10x profits right now, today.
Some would probably even argue that not extracting maximum profits today would leave them at a disadvantage against their competitors who are investing huge profits back into the business.
To be clear I’m not saying I agree with any of this, I’m just saying don’t get your hopes up because at the end of the day they are all businesses.
Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of companies manufacturing ram, and the handful that exists are all members of the cartel, and it takes decades to set up a new production. Also the cartel corporations are making much more selling to datacenters than they ever did selling to consumers.
There is too much centralization in the chain. Decades ago there were lots of memory manufacturers. But as the markets matured, and the work became more sophisticated, and big swings happened in the markets, consolidation happened. And many manufacturers just went away.
But yeah, you would think there would be room for that still. I still agree with you.
The need to act in the best interest of the shareholders, if they are making less immediate profits to make more gains long term they can easily make that argument. Convincing the board not to replace you and hire someone that will ride the bubble til it pops is a different story.
That’s up for interpretation. Arguing the AI bubble will burst and that this sets up the company for an excellent position post-pop could be argued to eventually net the most money. But it’s a hard sell.
Imagine how much good will and long-term profit any given manufacturer could generate right now just by creating consumer-facing parts at a reasonable price and refusing to cater their supply lines to datacenters. The right move now could buy loyalty for decades. People remember.
Not much at all. Consumers are cheap, their requirements vary wildly and they are hard to deal with and buy in small quantities.
They’d generate loads of good will, which would be forgotten in an instant as soon as a something better or cheaper came along. Consumers are fickle.
A lot also don’t, the low common denominator don’t care about anything other then their consumer habits or if it affects them in the here and now.
Yeah but they won’t, because good will access loyalty isn’t worth 10x profits right now, today.
Some would probably even argue that not extracting maximum profits today would leave them at a disadvantage against their competitors who are investing huge profits back into the business.
To be clear I’m not saying I agree with any of this, I’m just saying don’t get your hopes up because at the end of the day they are all businesses.
It would just be out of stock immediately though
I don’t know about that. My time in customer service has taught me that it’s actually pretty hard to win customers over.
Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of companies manufacturing ram, and the handful that exists are all members of the cartel, and it takes decades to set up a new production. Also the cartel corporations are making much more selling to datacenters than they ever did selling to consumers.
There is too much centralization in the chain. Decades ago there were lots of memory manufacturers. But as the markets matured, and the work became more sophisticated, and big swings happened in the markets, consolidation happened. And many manufacturers just went away.
But yeah, you would think there would be room for that still. I still agree with you.
I’ll keep saying this til I’m blue in the face. I don’t want sophisticated RAM. I want modest RAM that’s easier to make.
Because memory got too cheap on thin margins. We locked computer cases and made workstation cases out of thick steel ~2000 because of RAM costs.
Pretty sure thats actually illegal in the US because you are legally obligated to do what makes the board and investors the most money.
Costco is a public US company that wins customer loyalty by not price gouging
The need to act in the best interest of the shareholders, if they are making less immediate profits to make more gains long term they can easily make that argument. Convincing the board not to replace you and hire someone that will ride the bubble til it pops is a different story.
Only if it is publicly traded. A private company can do whatever they want, with some legal exceptions.
That’s up for interpretation. Arguing the AI bubble will burst and that this sets up the company for an excellent position post-pop could be argued to eventually net the most money. But it’s a hard sell.