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Comment by jjoonathan | Hacker News Reader

The EEs are spinning alternative designs, the SWEs are writing cart sniping bots, the Supply Chain guys are trying to figure out if anyone with chips can be compensated for their consideration, ASML is desoldering chips from washing machines so they can make machines that make more chips, Influencers are using clout to beg for chips

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chip+shortage+a...

Et tu, ATMEGA328P?

It's getting very real very fast out there.

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>ASML is desoldering chips from washing machines

It's not what ASML does - ASML exec reported that some other company does this

And according to the New York Times, this is the reason that Russian troops are looting major appliances from Ukraine, and trucking them back home.

There must be some interesting chips in washing machines these days.

they want a direct line to NSA

Why not just pull the circuit boards and truck those home? Do you really have to take the rest of the machine?

Maybe they are... alternatively maybe they aren't and it's simply easier and faster to tell troops to chuck washing machines onto trucks rather than spend time dismantling them and learning how to identify the relevant parts and remove them without damage, not to mention Russia has a lot of spare fuel now.

I find the connection to acquiring electronic parta dubious. No one would transport washing machines on tanks when other transportation means exist. Plundering by badly disciplined troops looks much more likely.

This is not true.

I laugh when people claim chips are desoldered by anyone at all, even Russia.

Anyone with a minimal amount of knowledge knows that it would cost tons of time and money (and be impossible for anyone not well educated/experienced in the craft) to:

1) design a new circuit board around the chip 2) print said circuit board in sufficient quantities 3) Write software (from scratch) for the chip

ASML is most certainly not involved, regardless.

I personally know people in low volume industries where they have pulled parts from prototypes, rejects and devkits to keep production moving. It absolutely gets done when it makes sense. For example with FPGA's.

I promise you that there are plenty of reasons to get a chip professionally desoldered.

Your steps 1 thru 3 could cost $100k or more, depending on the chip.

If you're selling 1,000 to 10,000 units of something in the short term, you'd definitely pay the premium for a removal and repackaging

steps 4+) get new electronics through FCC, UL, CE, etc. certification, which is slow and expensive, strongly motivating keeping the components the same

You desolder to avoid 1, 2, and 3. That's why it makes sense. Washing machine has the stupid microcontroller you need and costs half of scalper prices? Washing machine it is.

Obviously the economics only work in low volume / high NRE sectors -- like semiconductor tooling.

I got, like, FOUR Arduinos in a bin out in the garage somewhere. I'm gonna be rich!

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