Way to go, semiconductor suppliers. Thanks to you, we’re all going to be paying more for our PCs going forward. Possibly a lot more.
The main culprits are D-Ram memory chips, which have seen a 23% price increase this year and make up 10% of a computer’s cost. The move from DDR2 to DDR3 is primarily what’s wreaking havoc. Memory’s not alone, though: while the overall cost of semiconductor components has declined by an average of 7.8% per year since 2000, the Financial Times reports that this year Gartner analysts expect them to go up 2.3%. LCD panels are also tapped for a 20% cost increase.
It remains to be seen how much of the cost is going to be passed along to consumers, but there’s no way that the component prices can increase this much and the end product can keep getting cheaper. It was a good ride while it lasted, but it’s almost time to pay the PC piper. [FT via Ars Technica]
