We are probably going to see a sea change in the way high tech is manufactured and sold once domestically produced microprocessors come online in numbers sufficient to compete with China.
For one thing, if you're manufacturing domestic microprocessors that is going to spawn partner industries right away.
Those chips GO onto circuit boards!
You get the point.
Now here is where I predict it's going to be a little different:
We WILL compete with China to some extent and that means we WILL be also cranking out all those cheap disposable devices.
But my gut tells me that in order to get noticed, our domestic industries will have to offer something the Chinese never have, something that is reminiscent of what American high tech used to look like.
The generation that bought all those old brands are mostly aged or dead now but the funny thing is, kids who go to music concerts or watch musicians play or record notice little things, like the resurgence of vinyl and analog, the fact that their favorite stars record in studios filled with lovingly restored classic vintage equipment.
And they wonder what the world would be like if there was more access to all these treasured old gadgets.
Did you know that a vintage Altec 639, 633 or 670A can fetch almost three times the original list price today even if it hasn't been maintained well? Go price a vintage McIntosh amp, no....not Apple MacIntosh, McIntosh.
Some of them cost as much as a brand new one or even more.
UPDATE: Holy crap, was I ever wrong, I checked again and just as one example a Vintage McIntosh Stereo System MC2505 C26 MR73 Reconditioned Amp Pre-amp Tuner on eBay is selling for 5500 dollars.
(faint) THUD...and that treasure won't stay on eBay very long.
(
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165579500668)
So what my gut tells me is we can expect a kind of two-tiered approach, cheap disposable plastic toys and heavy duty, even partially handmade modular designed high tech pieces of art designed to be repaired, modified, upgraded and cared for because it's made to last a generation.
That latter stuff will be expensive as Hell but worth every penny.
We'll also see the return of repair shops, real repair shops. They're already here in the form of shops that cater to computer repair and builds right now but it's a short leap to expand to repairing, modifying and upgrading modern American made audio and video.
Don't be too quick to laugh, I won a 20 dollar bet I made in 1998 when I predicted the return of the Chrysler HEMI V-8 engine and sure enough in 2003 Dodge reintroduced it. Now it's probably going away forever but it enjoyed another twenty year run much to the delight of muscle car enthusiasts everywhere.
