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Rare Earth Restrictions To Raise Hard Drive Cost
MojoKid writes "Multiple manufacturers in the IT industry have been keeping a wary eye on China's decision to cut back on rare earth exports and the impact it may have on component prices. There have been reports that suggest we'll see that decision hit the hard drive industry this year, with HDD prices trending upwards an estimated 5-10 percent depending on capacity. Although rare earth magnets are only a small part of a hard drive's total cost, China cut exports last year by 40 percent, which drove pricing for these particular components up an estimated 20-30x. China currently controls 97 percent of the rare earth elements market for popular metals like neodymium, cerium, yttrium and ytterbium."
That's okay. With the economy where it is, we can replace the magnets with interns.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Oh no! My next 3 TB drive is going to cost $105 instead of $100. The sky is falling!
Pffft. This isn't news worthy.
I don't want any kind of 'reluctance' motor in my car, switched or otherwise.
When I step on the pedal, I want the damn thing to go, not to complain about the traffic or the pollution or how much weight I've stuffed in the car.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
why do i even bother trying to make an honest living...
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky