11-17-2013, 05:51 PM
sekker wrote:
My understanding is that the fab companies have hit a diminishing returns point.
Nah.
They're not as hard pressed as CPU manufacturers who are now up against quantum effects and probably can't scale CPU components down more than they already are. (The difference between a 20nm chip and a 14nm chip is the description the marketing department used.)
NAND is at least a couple of generations behind in that regard. Probably won't hit the wall until 2016.
They're just taking advantage of market-perception for higher profits. When there was a small fire in a manufacturing plant a couple of months ago, a bunch of them slowed production even though it only affected one company and the plant was fully operational a week after the event. That company (Hynix) isn't bringing the factory back online until "late winter" - well into 2014.