3 ms·

Can 3B dollars fund a small semiconductor company that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? My guess is NO. Successful pic

by vdaniuk 13y ago

Can 3B dollars fund a small semiconductor company that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? My guess is NO. Successful picture sharing apps has stable audience locked in with network effects and switching costs. That is a sustainable competitive advantage.

raverbashing 13y ago
"that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? My guess is NO" Maybe, but these are not the only semiconductor companies in existence. And there's a whole lot of (semiconductor) products beyond what those produce. But to compete agains them, yes, you would at least have to double that value, but probably more. Or you just design and subcontract manufacturing to them.
- vdaniuk 13y ago
  Dont you think that all that considerations are factored in the VC process?
  - ksk 13y ago
    Why are you assigning some sort of 'perfect knowledge' or clairvoyance to VCs ? They are just like everyone else and they make irrational decisions and have inherent biases.
    - vdaniuk 13y ago
      I didn't assign anything. You did. Stop putting words in my mouth. My point was that if a random HN commenter is able to raise some issues about ROI of various investments then certainly VCs who do it professionally have these issues factored in. Simple as that.
      - ksk 13y ago
        >Stop putting words in my mouth Start being clear, then people might understand your confused responses. > then certainly VCs who do it professionally have these issues factored in. What is so certain about it? Doing something 'professionally' just means that its your job. People are capable of sucking at their job (which happens far too often IMHO).
weland 13y ago
> Can 3B dollars fund a small semiconductor company that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? Semiconductor does not automatically mean CPUs for the consumer market. 3B can fund a small, very profitable semiconductor company, with well-defined expertise in an important, current problem (e.g. power management, low-power RF communication etc.) from which it can grow onwards. Unfortunately, this market is less volatile and, consequently, less attractive for people who expect immediate returns.
hershel 13y ago
Why not ? Didn't GPU's eaten from intel and amd's market share ? To such a point that AMD purchased ATI ?

by vdaniuk 13y ago

raverbashing 13y ago

"that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? My guess is NO" Maybe, but these are not the only semiconductor companies in existence. And there's a whole lot of (semiconductor) products beyond what those produce. But to compete agains them, yes, you would at least have to double that value, but probably more. Or you just design and subcontract manufacturing to them.

vdaniuk 13y ago
Dont you think that all that considerations are factored in the VC process?
- ksk 13y ago
  Why are you assigning some sort of 'perfect knowledge' or clairvoyance to VCs ? They are just like everyone else and they make irrational decisions and have inherent biases.
  - vdaniuk 13y ago
    I didn't assign anything. You did. Stop putting words in my mouth. My point was that if a random HN commenter is able to raise some issues about ROI of various investments then certainly VCs who do it professionally have these issues factored in. Simple as that.
    - ksk 13y ago
      >Stop putting words in my mouth Start being clear, then people might understand your confused responses. > then certainly VCs who do it professionally have these issues factored in. What is so certain about it? Doing something 'professionally' just means that its your job. People are capable of sucking at their job (which happens far too often IMHO).

weland 13y ago

> Can 3B dollars fund a small semiconductor company that will have a sustainable competitive advantage against Intel, AMD and TSMC? Semiconductor does not automatically mean CPUs for the consumer market. 3B can fund a small, very profitable semiconductor company, with well-defined expertise in an important, current problem (e.g. power management, low-power RF communication etc.) from which it can grow onwards. Unfortunately, this market is less volatile and, consequently, less attractive for people who expect immediate returns.

hershel 13y ago

Why not ? Didn't GPU's eaten from intel and amd's market share ? To such a point that AMD purchased ATI ?