While that does sort of happen, that's not the reason. Article says it was used in satellite links and deep space networks before it was cool. Those applicatio

While that does sort of happen, that's not the reason. Article says it was used in satellite links and deep space networks before it was cool. Those applications had hit their technological limits and no one was making something new they could buy next year, so they had to do it themselves. Contrast that with phone networks being able to rely on the next G coming out. Now we have 5G, but it's 5G with an asterisk, so it's time to look for a new approach. Same with Moore's law. The semiconductor industry was really focused on smaller transistors for a long time until they started getting close to the physical limit. Then suddenly everyone is talking about chiplets and other ideas that had been around a long time but weren't mainstream. Changing approach requires a lot of coordination and carries a lot of risk. It's easier to finish milking one cow for as long as possible before moving on to the next. The laughing is just because your advisor knows how long it will probably be before the general market has exhausted its old approach.