The show goes on in the semicond world…

You would think that we’ll have to retire Charlize after Tripath announced its bankuptcy. I don’t blame you. Judging by the emails I’m getting, many seem to think so.

Fortunately the semiconductor industry is a bit more interesting than that. Life just doesn’t come to a halt like this.

You see, in a normal product life cycle (we are talking about semicond chips here), before the company obsoletes its product, what it’ll usually do is offer a “last time buy”. Meaning this is your last chance to buy this part before the company renders it obsolete. You have ample time to do so here! Even if you don’t place your order now, for sure some semiconductor wholesalers, stockists, distributors… will have some stock in hand (more so if the said product is popular).

So life does go on.

But what if the company winds down like the case of Tripath? Is there time for “last time buy”?

No problem. There’s always some stock with wholesalers, distributors etc. Of course, they have every right to raise their prices now but it’s still not a problem as, more importantly…

…the show can go on.