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0 pointsnickpp5y ago0 comments

Until a startup with an innovation in fabrication itself comes along disrupting the industry and rendering all those incumbent investments suddenly obsolete.

Happened again and again. In free markets, of course. Even if they may trend to, only controlled markets reach monopoly.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

lumost5y ago· 2 in thread

There are plenty of counter examples, and I'd dare say the majority of notable historical "true" monopolies were disrupted due to government intervention rather than disruption. While intel has had a process lead for decades, they've never had a monopoly on fabrication.

nickppOP5y ago

Do you have some examples? Any monopoly I know of was government granted, usually through regulations. I actually know of much more examples of disruption...

Now the market can arrive to a state of monopoly due to some powerful player, but as long as the startup mechanism is functioning, competition will arrive and disrupt.

lumost5y ago

Standard Oil, US Steel, AT&T are the best known examples in the US. None of these (including AT&T) were government granted. They also share a few key traits

1) They dominated their "primary" markets

2) Their primary market was deep, and competing with them was cost prohibitive for any economic entity as in lose the GDP of a small country expensive.

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sudosysgen5y ago

Maybe after twenty to fourty years this will happen. So far, this hasn't happened in this field.

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