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remains for specialization and outsourcing, meaning Apple is still sort of the only vertical integrator around here, even if they rely on others for the manufacturing process. The risk of course is of over-specialization, where all the different chip manufacturers wind up waiting on line for the one foundry that has the tech and the equipment to actually fab the chips. Your average Joe doesn't just decide to throw his hat in the ring and start up a foundry, meaning the risk of overspecialization becomes a security risk.

Just thinking out loud here. Maybe it will lead to lowered prices for chips, which is a good thing, and would free up resources for innovation. Was just reading Ritchie's rant from 30 years ago that little innovation was happening anymore and Linux was simply a copy of Unix technology. I think he was deploring that we'd largely come away from investigation into things like alternative chip architectures, the Lisp machines, and similar experiments. He's right - I think that era died out a while ago, while we've decided to milk the current architecture to its eventual limits instead.