An Introduction to Semiconductor Economics

I used to work for a large semiconductor company in the memory sector and I quickly realized that the product we were selling wasn't a whole lot different from milk - if you made it, and it was good, it would sell. Though this article seemed to discuss processors specifically, it's interesting to see that memory chips, in my limited experience, had neared the point of a commodity - now that I'm on the other side of the divide in embedded systems/consumer electronics, it's clear that JEDEC and ONFI standards have been huge drivers of this type of market behavior.

On a somewhat related note - there's a whole "stock market" just for memory commodities, which you can check out at:

http://www.dramexchange.com/

I find the semiconductor industry really fascinating. It seems like the classic example of an industry that can't easily be disrupted by start ups, particularly on the fabrication side.

But I've often wondered if it is possible. Occasionally see micron scale fabrication lines pop up on ebay for ~200K USD. And while possibly not useful for the majority of digital design, I often wonder if there are interesting analogue applications they might have.