IT Professionals

Does China Own Our Computer Future?

Posted by on Jan 12, 2010 | 3 Comments

Found this article a bit disturbing. Not because the resources were all based in China, rather because they were all based in a single location! Imagine how frustrated I was to learn that 95% of the rare Earth metals come from one centralized location. Worse, that same centralized location is said to need ALL of its resources in just a few years.

On the flip side, I am going to say here soon Molycorp in Colorado is going to be on a hiring streak… being it will be among the few left available to provide the mines needed for such materials. Alternative materials, anyone? Unless we are looking forward to a future where will be paying through the nose for computers.

Could this be the end of cheap computing? Perhaps, instead, we will finally find ways to have an upgraded computer expense without needing to upgrade quite as often? Definitely open to some thoughts on the pricing aspects of this. Hit the comments, share your thoughts.

[awsbullet:china national geographic]

  • Harmon

    Not to worry. There are plenty of places to get those minerals, and if the prices rise so that it makes economic sense to mine them elsewhere, and take care of the environment, people will find ways to do it. They might be more expensive, but it won’t be the end of access. And won’t most of the electronics that use them be built in China by then, anyway? This reminds me of the Club of Rome report that predicted we would run out of many major metals by the late 1970′s. Instead, worldwide production rose, and prices fell, and surplus burgeoned.

  • Larry

    Not the type of thing people give much thought to…but should. I don’t know enough about the computer industry to make a prediction but if computers get real expensive, so that they can not be replaced as often, then one possible outcome would be to design computers that are easier to upgrade. That “could” be a good thing, less waste.

    The way things are now, even if you get a computer designed to allow for upgrades, it is often better to get a new computer then to do the upgrade.

    Just a thought.

  • http://justenrobertson.com Justen

    I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There are huge reserves of neodymium, lithium, and a few other REMs that are not being tapped right now due to being in protected areas, but when demand climbs high enough I suspect people will find a relatively harmonious way to extract them. One of them is on a beautiful dry lake bed in South America (I believe in the mountains in Peru) that is just stunning to look at, and it’s going to be a real shame if it gets torn up for want of lithium, so hopefully other solutions will be found. Some advances in battery technology may decrease lithium demand, for one thing.