I agree with your comment about scaling, but I think you have underestimated the firmware deployment figures. Ultimately, whatever we write that goes into firm

I agree with your comment about scaling, but I think you have underestimated the firmware deployment figures. Ultimately, whatever we write that goes into firmware is hidden from the customer. The customer pays a price per unit, and other hardware vendors are competing against your product. This competition keeps the overall cost low. Except at the very top level like Intel or Samsung, semiconductor manufacturers seem to be fighting one financial crisis after another. Competition does not work like that in Software. The products (even in the same domain) are all too different from each other, so though they may be competitors, they are rarely in direct competition.