This feels like a classic business blunder. Focus hard on a single business segment, leaving an opening in the market for your competitors. Not because it wasn't profitable, but because it wasn't profitable enough for you, right now. Only downside is that now you've created an opening for a new player in the market.

This feels like a short coming of western business/stock market thinking. Focusing on profit within the next few quarters, and not caring about the longer term consequences. For all it's flaws and shady business practises at least China can think beyond a single fiscal year.

▲ tjwebbnorfolk 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Ok but this is how the market is supposed to work. If the incumbents aren't doing what their customers want, then competitors can rise and fill the gap and compete.

This isn't a shortcoming, it's a competitive market working as intended.

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delecti 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The market doing what it's supposed to do does not negate that the market segment has only been left open because of overly myopic businesses.

	▲	qup 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Why would we think businesses will always make the right move? They'll blunder. They'll do it even harder in the absence of competition.
	▲	tjwebbnorfolk an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		The market is actively trying to solve it right now. Micron is investing $200B in new fabs. Everyone is trying to ramp up production. Yes, identifying a problem is easy. But solving shortages in all cases requires perfect knowledge of future demand. So, good luck.
	▲	estimator7292 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That's what modern capitalism is and it's bad for everyone

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PearlRiver 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Everyone gets mad when Chinese do capitalism...

	▲	joe_mamba 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		NO you see, we have to hate Chinese companies because they are unfair competitors since they get state funding from the Chinese government, unlike Intel, Micron, TSMC, ASML, Samsung who don't get state funding from the US, EU, Taiwan, ROK ... oh wait. Scratch that, we have to hate Chinese companies because they do business with the Chinese military, unlike Intel, Nvidia, Samsung who don't do business with the US and ROK military ... oh wait.
	▲	bigyabai 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		"Why is nobody berating China?" is my favorite oft-repeated refrain on HN.

▲ xadhominemx 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

CXMT sells the vast majority of their bits at the prevailing market rate, just like everyone else. They are adding capacity as quickly as they can, with a 5-10 year planning horizon, just like everyone else. It’s really not that deep!

▲ orphea 4 hours ago | parent [-]

  > They are adding capacity as quickly as they can [...], just like everyone else

Are you sure? In the past they explicitly said they are not going to increase production.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/memory-maker...

	▲	xadhominemx 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes of course their messaging to customers and the investment community is that they will be rational and measured in their investments. In reality, they are adding capacity as quickly as possible as margins are too high. However, capacity addition leading edge semiconductor manufacturing has a multi-year lead time.
	▲	washadjeffmad 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		PRC asked them to curtail DDR4 production so they didn't bottom out the market a year or two ago, and to focus on latest gen development, like HBM. They were the world leader in cost efficient DDR4 production at the time.

▲ zozbot234 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not really a blunder though. Given that total capacity is tightly constrained, Samsung and SK Hynix are happy to focus on what they do at their best and with the highest margins. Why shouldn't they supply the HBM market?

▲ sophrosyne42 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There is really nothing about the stock market that means only thinking about the mext few quarters. See all the losses on the profit and loss statements of AI tech giants, or, say, game console companies? Why are their stocks still valued so highly during these periods? The answer: investors are thinking long term.

It is really impossible to have quality long term thinking without capitalization accounting and similar instruments that come out of the "wester" system of business that chinese free enterprise gladly and speedily copied when it was made free.