11 Mar
2003
11 Mar
'03
11:30 a.m.
From: "Vintage Computer Festival"
<vcf(a)siconic.com>
On Tue, 11 Mar 2003, Dave Wilson wrote:
Hi
Even wafer collecting can have monetary value. A while back, at
the beginning of the last Middle East action, there was a military
requirement for mil spec TTL parts. I don't recall which but
I believe it was 74139's that were in short supply. Anyone
with a wafer of these could just about name their price.
The fact is that most companies consider the wafers as
proprietary information. They would rather destroy it or send
it back to the foundry to be recycled. Wafers that do make
it to the outside world are usually from some company that
has shut down and had a warehouse of overstocks.
Dwight
My only anxiety is that the general interest in
collecting
silicon may take off in a big way before I have managed to build
up a workable stock.
Indeed. Just try to keep a "Silicon Wafers" category from being created
on eBay for as long as possible and you'll be in the clear for a while :)