What about the chips?

[TrogL]

There's chips in everything. Hell, my toaster's got a chip in it - heaven only know why.

The greenback is sinking like mad. Joe sixpack assumes that if he buys Amurikan he'll be OK. Problem is, a lot of chip manufacturing is offshore (except for Motorolla, Sun and IBM although I won't even swear to that) but with the price of chips going up and chips being in absolutely everything, prices of even common goods are going to be going up.

Hopefully this will mean that Canadian electronics manufacturers (although the only one I can think of is Nortel) will become more competitive in world markets.

[Occulus]

1. Ummmm.....

Reread Moore's Law and get back to me.

Implied in Moore's Law is the idea that the cost of manufacturing chips will drop over time; indeed, this is what has happened. Of course, quantum computers will render the megahertz measurement irrelevant when it finally blooms into maturity; if DNA computing becomes highly developed, even cost will become a nonissue.

The price increases we've seen in consumer goods in the past decade or more has been almost completely due to greed, IMO.

[ramapo]

2. Price increases?

I can't think of any consumer item in the realm of electronics that has increased in price over the last decade. The exact opposite is true.

Cheap labour, economy of scale, and increased efficiency in the production process(and the dollar) have resulted in consumer electronics which are unbelievably inexpensive.

Cars and like big ticket items are another story.

[German-Lefty]

3. Don't put religious faith in Moores Law.

It's more of a theory anyway. Sure it's been true for about 30 years now the speed has been doubling, but a nuclear war or good recession could obviously stop it.

Quantum computing ... DNA computing ... I'll believe it when I see it.