Why Is There A Monopoly On Chip Makers

why is there only two chip makers in the world?

Intel and AMD are the only CPU makers in the world for desktop,servers and laptops.

And tsmc and qualcomm are the only CPU makers in the world for mobile devices like smartphones, smart watches and tablets.

 

There is no monopoly.
To design, develop and manufacture CPUs cost billions of Dollars. While there are companies and individuals who have the money, who's going to risk it? Intel and AMD are in a race to be the best. Joining the race is one thing - winning it will be virtually impossible. Furthermore, consumers are brand conscious and patriotic.

More than thirty years ago Toyota took on BMW and Mercedes-Benz with it's Lexus LS. It was a superb effort that shook the motoring world. And today? BMW and Mercedes-Benz are still the top two makers/sellers of luxury cars in the world even though Lexus is owned by Toyota, the world's largest car-maker.

Technology is on a runaway freight train. Catching it and getting on is easier said than done, no matter how deep your pockets are.

 

There are many other chipmakers but just not making processors for main stream PCs.
In the past Motorola used to make the CPUs for Apple and previously Texas Instruments made processors for military uses although now they mostly make industrial process controllers for industry.
Many companies that started to become successful or were already a threat were bought out by the big two (Intel and AMD) so they couldn't dilute the big two's market share because AMD and Intel spent vast amounts to establish their brands and they didn't want any challengers.

As Eldon said the big problem is the eye watering costs involved in setting up to make CPUs but something he didn't mention was the problems of navigating around all the patents. I used to work for one of the largest global electronic companies in the world and was the Head of the Research and Development Printed Circuit Board Development and Testing Department for the entire Pacific Rim region and I know first hand how many patents the company used to put in place to trip up our competitors. We had two full time electronic engineers whose only job was reviewing all data from our key engineering projects with the goal of creating and applying for new patents to prevent our competitors making something similar. The company used these patents and the legal system to obfuscate our competitors by letting them spend all the money setting up for producing a new product and then just as they were about to produce the product the legal team would step in and have their production stopped for encroaching on our patents thus effectively making the competitors spend huge sums of money and get nothing in return. Sometimes this caused small companies to go bankrupt. Sadly this is how big business works and maintains market position.........by being the bully in the market place.

FYI Here is a list of current and defunct processor manufacturers that I had on file.
This list may not be complete as my source file is three years old but you will get the idea.
Top current CPU manufacturers:
AMD
Intel

List of current CPU manufacturers:
ARM Holdings (sells designs only)
Broadcom Inc.
Fujitsu
IBM (now only designs two architectures)
Imagination Technologies (previously MIPS Technologies)
Ingenic Semiconductor
Marvell
MediaTek
Nvidia
Oracle (previously Sun Microsystems)
Qualcomm
Rockchip
Samsung
Texas Instruments
Via (formerly Centaur Technology division)

Acquired or defunct:
Cyrix
Freescale (acquired by NXP Semiconductors)
HiSilicon (acquired by Huawei)
Motorola
NexGen
Rise Technology
SigmaTel (acquired by Freescale)

 

First in.....best dressed!

When Apple came to the table, things rocketed for Intel

China are banking on a new chip, why do you think the US banned Huawei??
I wonder what they could imbed? lol

 

I remember Cyrix 6x86 Good ol days.

 

I had a Cyrix 486SLC25 in the first Windows (3.1) PC I ever had. Before that, I had a DOS Intel 8088 IBM clone and before that a hand-me-dwon Osborne.

Having said this, I feel very old now. I think I'm going to check myself in to a nursing home.

 

Old is only in the mind

 

China is only now making there own CPU, hardware, software and OS and every thing after the US ban all hardware made in China by US hardware designers.

The US hardware is designed in the US and made in China.

This has stop now with US and China trade war in name of spyware fears that China is putting in spware in firmware chips on the motherboard. And China that fear the NSA is putting in spyware in the firmware chips on the motherboard.

Both thing they are spying on each other.

 

Yes it is, but under strict US construction supervision facilities which, believe it or not, are also part owned by the Chinese gov't.

China are looking for new ways to control the Internet and keep its data within its borders!
Of-course the US are not silly, they are playing the same game.
It all makes complete sense to me, I would be doing the same!
All technology must be secure and configurable (controllable).
If its not, you are at potential risk from unwanted infiltration.

As you say, when China develop their own OS and other Software, the main companies to suffer will be Microsoft, Apple, Dell, HP and the likes!

Lenovo is a Chinese company that source their chips from Intel (US) and hard drives from Samsung in Korea.
So this is seen as OK?
How long the Chinese govt will allow this to continue, is a financial/military decision i would say.
Will they continue to run an MS OS?

What a wonderful web we weave

 

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

Update:
"For the love of money and power are the roots of all kinds of evil."
Money buys power. Power means money.
Case closed.

 

The root of all evil is when capitalism gets out of control and well street buy politicians off to look the other way. The US wants to break up US tech companies because it has been in news every day but they not talking about the real problem. They have to stop talking about the symptoms and get to root cause.

 

This is because the Lenovo PC/Laptop department used to be IBM, and thus is located in the USA. I don't know if Lenovo relocated to China completely, but it at least explains why this exists.
Also, most hdd's/ssd's do not come from China afaik. Samsung and Intel are the big players there, with Intel having its own factories for the most part.