Comments on: 3D printing: what you (probably) haven't considered (yet) http://thetarpit.org/2014/3d-printing "Now I feel like I know less about what that blog is about than I did before." Wed, 16 Sep 2026 05:23:22 +0000 http://thetarpit.org hourly 1 By: spyked http://thetarpit.org/2014/3d-printing#comment-7791 spyked Sat, 05 Sep 2026 07:03:38 +0000 http://wp.thetarpit.org/2014/3d-printing#comment-7791 > A couple of decades later everyone and their dog will be able to print custom phones, or even better, hire robots to design their favourite tech junk according to some informal specification. For what it's worth, one decade and a bit into this prediction, I still see this being two or more decades away from now. There are some industrious folks in the Western space who have attempted and managed to build ICs at a lower cost than the average market price, buuut... meanwhile custom chips are growing in complexity at a pace that is increasingly difficult to keep up with, and it's quite a challenge to keep up with China on both raw economic output and innovation. So... I don't know. > A couple of decades later everyone and their dog will be able to print custom phones, or even better, hire robots to design their favourite tech junk according to some informal specification.

For what it's worth, one decade and a bit into this prediction, I still see this being two or more decades away from now. There are some industrious folks in the Western space who have attempted and managed to build ICs at a lower cost than the average market price, buuut... meanwhile custom chips are growing in complexity at a pace that is increasingly difficult to keep up with, and it's quite a challenge to keep up with China on both raw economic output and innovation.

So... I don't know.

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