EEVblog
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2018–2022
29:49 · 257K views · Oct 10, 2018
Dave Jones of EEVblog looks at a sub-3-cent microcontroller from Padauk and other obscure Chinese manufacturers. He shows how to find such parts and where to buy them in stock.
Cited as the go-to demo that full microcontrollers now cost about three cents, replacing things like the 555 timer.
5 comments from Hacker News
>The countries that are going to be hurt by these US semiconductor subsidies are going be Taiwan, South Korea, Japan ... not China. I think I may agree here, and it gets complicated -- fast. I suspect you might be referring to larger parts like CPUs, but you should take this excellent opportunity to investigate china's semi industry a bit. China has a very interesting local manufacturing economy of parts and suppliers that is mostly invisible to outside observers. It's fascinating that in China, there is a totally divergent supply chain to support the cheap consumer electronics industry. Granted, it isn't CPUs. However, they sure are cranking out semis, its just that they never leave China but for inside of another product. The datasheets are all in Chinese, they aren't exported, they serve to support China's unique manufacturing culture. Here's a previous submission that delves into this: The “terrible” 3 cent MCU – a short survey of sub $0.10 microcontrollers [LINK] You can also check out Dave from EEVblog's 3-cent microcontroller[0] video about the same series of dirt cheap micros. [0] this video
Dave Jones' EEVBlog recently posted a video on cheap microcontrollers (<0.03USD): this video Replacing a 555 timer is a very common job for this type of part. It will typically have an internal oscillator, so it won't need the additional components the 555 needs, reducing cost further. Even if you use something more expensive like an ATtiny (cut down version of the microcontroller found in Arduinos, so very easy to develop for) it might still be competitive because of the reduced parts count and board space.
> Yeah I wish we could get those prices. You might enjoy [1] about a microcontroller that's ~3 cents, in quantity 10. Of course it's only one-time-programmable, and generally pretty basic. And that's a pre-supply-chain-crisis price - these days prices have risen to 9 cents [2]. Still very cheap though! [1] this video [2] [LINK]
Most of the components are leds and transistors (and some resistors) and those are (still) dirt cheap... you can get whole microcontrollers for ~3 cents a piece [0] (if you buy a few thousands). PCBs are comparatively cheap, few tens of dollars, depending on the process, and with pick-and-place, assembly is also relatively cheap. so yeah.. maybe they're making them in some more expensive country or use some exotic components. [0] this video
EEVblog has a video of what could be possible. He is talking about 3c part. With direct negotiation at massive volumes, sub 1c part is definitely possible. this video What has your experience been with the very cheap parts?