If the industry continues to sustain this level of losses, PC prices could rise. For the most part, though, the consumer is immune to high-tech larceny. Not so with chip re-marking scams. These have been going on since the 1980s, when the 286 was a hot item. Fraudsters are now using sophisticated equipment to grind the original name off lesser chips and resell them, at almost twice the price, as high-end versions.
Some Asian gangs obtain the chips from outfits that specialize in recycling rejects.
Others source them from the trash outside fabrication plants. Normally, a re-marked slower chip will run faster for a while, but it will then burn out. When this happens, users often complain to the maker. As for the customer, only the most discerning can tell a real chip from a fake. If people think they have hit on a bargain, they will blindly believe that what is said to be inside the computer is really there.