42firehawk

It’s not all suppliers, Qualcomm is less likely to play that game. Valve was referencing specifically dram and flash memory suppliers, who are a cartel already and are now also looking at surging demands so they can perform a direct market shakedown by figuring out which customers still need to pay that much and which have been priced out.

They will keep going until the amount they produce no longer has customers, but until then they have not found the highest price for their goods, and the line must go up.

It’s not even a few existing designs… There is an exact pattern called the eurion constellation that all printers block. Then the process for printing each countries currency just involves placing a eurion constellation and you get the protection.

Its a single pattern that is very rigidly defined, to the point that many counterfeit bills that pass inspection shift one mark off by about a millimeter to get it printed.

Granted having worked at a bank when I found out was that the bill didn’t have the off color threads as well, but it almost was approved despite getting a close inspection.