1 Hour Power Outage at Micron Manufacturing Plant Could Mean Increased DRAM Prices Throughout 2021

[_JP_]

If one hour can wreck your entire business model, its probably time to rethink being in business to begin with?

Being profit-driven, I'd say it's really well thought-out since they can get away with stuff like this.

 

[noel_fs]

nice excuse

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Micro sux anyway
Samsung a-die is going to be wicked

 

[B-Real]

Only two characters needed to describe this:

 

[bug]

This sucks and not RTX 30 series cards will properly increase more in price

The article says DRAM, so GDDR should not be affected. Or so I'm hoping.
It doesn't really matter in the end, I have my eyes set on Ampere, but I'm not paying a cent over MSRP. And I can wait till that happens, since clearly a Christmas gift is out of the question.

 

[phanbuey]

So they must be 24/7/365 if one hour can not be made up.
There's 8760 hours in a year so.... I guess we could expect 0.0114% cost increase?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Really a 1 hour power outage translates into more than a 1 hour down time on production.

 

[TheDeeGee]

I read it's taking 2,5 months to make a DRAM chip from start to finish, and starting up the product line takes days. Not to mention the possible unusable wafers stuck in the machines.

Explains the price raise really.

That said, Samsung B-die is the way to go anyways.

 

[Searing]

Well even though consumers have lost their mind (and massive government spending stimulus), there has been weaker corporate demand for NAND and memory recently. Who knows.

 

[milewski1015]

Hmmm. Samsung B-die becomes the go-to, factory catches fire. Micron E-die starts getting highly recommended, factory has power outage...I'm sensing a pattern here

 

[windwhirl]

Hmmm. Samsung B-die becomes the go-to, factory catches fire. Micron E-die starts getting highly recommended, factory has power outage...I'm sensing a pattern here

I see people still recommending the Samsung B-die all the time lately, but I thought that its quality had gone down a while ago?

 

[randomUser]

I see people still recommending the Samsung B-die all the time lately, but I thought that its quality had gone down a while ago?

No. Quality is good. It jis that B-die is not longer manufactured.

 

[milewski1015]

I see people still recommending the Samsung B-die all the time lately, but I thought that its quality had gone down a while ago?

It's not that it's any worse, it's just that it's not as much in dire need anymore since Ryzen's memory compatibility has greatly improved. B-die is still probably the go-to for overclocking enthusiasts, but Micron E-die will still allow you a couple hundred MHz more (although without as tight timings as B-die) for cheaper.

 

[Tartaros]

Stupid bird!

 

[MKRonin]

No. Quality is good. It jis that B-die is not longer manufactured.

Samsung still manufactures B-die chips, they just stopped making their own DIMMs with B-die.

 

[MikeSnow]

When these companies are so big and we are talking about such massive amounts of money when things go wrong (which they seem to regularly too), why on earth don't they have a giant Tesla Powerwall like the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia? It would cost next to nothing compared to these losses and could run them for a good few hours if it needs to.

Considering the losses from a power outage, I'm sure they had some batteries and generators as a backup. But sometimes they fail when you need them the most. For example, in Florida datacenters, before a hurricane, they start the generators and switch to them before the hurricane hits, and switch back to utility power when they are sure the danger has passed.

But for an unexpected utility power outage, you usually have a few minutes of battery power, in which the generators should be able to start and take the load. If they don't start, or they start but there is some kind of problem switching to them, it's over. Of course, they should be tested properly regularly, be of good quality depending on the risk, but even then there is a risk something will fail when the time comes.

Of course, in the end it's a matter of costs. With more money you can have a more reliable system. I'm sure they had something, but clearly it was not enough, or there was human error involved. Or both.

 

[Caring1]

Hmmm. Samsung B-die becomes the go-to, factory catches fire. Micron E-die starts getting highly recommended, factory has power outage...I'm sensing a pattern here

Industrial sabotage?
That's one way to increase demand for your product.

 

[milewski1015]

Industrial sabotage?
That's one way to increase demand for your product.

More like decrease supply while demand remains the same

 

[Nkd]

The master plan lol

 

[evernessince]

When it is more profitable to not produce goods, it makes sense to ensure that your backup power systems are not properly maintained.

Capitalism can waste labor just as well as communism.

 

[R-T-B]

I swear. If this is even true it's negligence at this point. It's like they never heard of battery backup for something worth so much, or a backup generator.

I feel like the government should just tell them "no too bad, so sad, eat the cost."

 

[pjl321]

Because then they won't even have the excuse to explain why they decided to just increase their pricing for a year. 1 accidental or deliberate brownout every few years is enough to temporarily raise pricing. Spending that sum on a battery or fossil-fuel backup just isn't worth the free price increase with every brownout.

That seems to be a common theme but surely they are in charge of their own pricing, they can choose whatever they want to charge and customers can choose whether to pay it or not.

Exactly.

But now you know; they are planned to raise prices, as if people can just keep paying more forever, what a bunch of idiots really.

That seems to be a common reason people thinks it happens but surely they are in charge of their own pricing, they can choose whatever they want to charge and customers can choose whether to pay it or not.

 

[windwhirl]

I swear. If this is even true it's negligence at this point. It's like they never heard of battery backup for something worth so much, or a backup generator.

I feel like the government should just tell them "no too bad, so sad, eat the cost."

In fact, thinking about it, their equipment must be really sensitive, so I imagine they already have some sort of protection against voltage spikes and the like. It shouldn't be all that expensive or space-hogging to add backup power supplies. I don't know how the process is done, but I imagine that having at least a few extra minutes of power would be enough to cut the loss somewhat.

 

[R-T-B]

In fact, thinking about it, their equipment must be really sensitive, so I imagine they already have some sort of protection against voltage spikes and the like. It shouldn't be all that expensive or space-hogging to add backup power supplies. I don't know how the process is done, but I imagine that having at least a few extra minutes of power would be enough to cut the loss somewhat.

All they need is a few seconds really for a backup power plant to kick in. This kind of money justifies it. It's not like they can't afford a big ass generator.

 

[dragontamer5788]

I'd assume they had a backup generator, but that backup generator failed for an hour.

The problem with backup plans is that backup plans are rarely tested. It could be as simple as "backup generator's gasoline went busted" or "not enough oil to start the engine", and bam, you have actual downtime.

---------

Or if its a battery-backup system, then "batteries couldn't hold a charge as long as expected", or similar effect that you won't figure out until you actually experience a mains outage. An aged battery will have a lower amperage for output, and that alone can cause an outage and/or issues. (Ex: you get 110V @ 50Hz instead of @60, so you have 18% less power than expected).