B&D wrote:
On 6/30/04 8:47 PM, in article , "chung"
wrote:
Isn't it amazing that a DAC with that kind of performance costs only
$6.78, and you can't even buy a decent pair of interconnects from Radio
Shack for that price?
IN a lot of ways, yes!
But chip making is a simple, fairly automated process - and cable making
requires some hand assembly - so go figure! Labor is worth more than the
materials, eh?
Are you serious? How much do you think it costs to run a fab? How much
does a wafer cost? How much is the amortized machinery cost? The cost of
the robotic transports and handlers? The package? The testing? And we're
not even talking about the amortized process development or the circuit
design!
In comparison, the labor cost in a pair of RS interconnects is most
likely no higher than US $0.10. I'm amazed that as an engineer you don't
see this huge difference between labor cost of a pair of interconnects
and the material cost of a DAC chip.
BTW, if labor cost is a big part of the interconnect cost, how come the
cable price scales almost linearly with length? Shouldn't the labor cost
be the same whether it's a 3-foot run or a 12-foot run?