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Russian tanks are using chips from household appliances due to sanctions:
[...] In a Senate hearing on Wednesday, the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo cited Ukrainians who found semiconductors from dishwashers and refrigerators in Russian tanks. Ukrainian officials say these are substitutes for components Russian manufacturers can't get due to international sanctions.
Raimondo said US technology exports to Russia have sunk by almost 70 percent since Russia started its invasion in late February. Moreover, spokesperson from the US Commerce department Robyn Patterson said US component shipments to Russia have fallen by 85 percent in the last year. Raimondo said the Ukrainian findings prove the sanctions are successfully diminishing Russia's war effort.
Complying with sanctions, computer companies like Intel, AMD, IBM, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries also stopped chip sales to Russia.
[...] Russia isn't the only entity cannibalizing appliances to fill chip deficiencies. Last month, ASML CEO Peter Wennik admitted that some companies are repurposing chips from washing machines to compensate for the ongoing global chip shortage.
https://www.techspot.com/news/94301-asml-ceo-companies-ripping-out-chips-washing-machines.html
Last year, TSMC chairman Mark Liu said various distributors and go-betweens had been stockpiling chips throughout the pandemic. Liu also didn't mention names, but both TSMC and ASML are close with an extensive network of partners and customers. They have long warned that geopolitical instability and sanctions imposed on countries like China and Russia would push companies to create even more chaos in the tech supply chain.
Lam Research CEO Timothy Archer echoed Wennink's remark that supply-related delays will affect how much factory equipment can be manufactured in the coming months. Even if companies like TSMC, Samsung, and Intel could somehow secure enough tooling for their new factories, major wafer suppliers won't be able to keep up with demand until 2024.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 17 2022, @07:59PM (7 children)
But without a chip, how could you hook up your washing machine to your Internet of Things so when your laundry is done it unlocks your front door and orders you orange juice on Amazon Prime?
Presumably newer driers also have some logic to just keep drying until it determines that moisture levels are sufficiently low.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Tuesday May 17 2022, @08:15PM (5 children)
A friend of mine has a drier from the late 1950s that has a moisture sensor and it works quite well.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 17 2022, @08:54PM (2 children)
That was my thought. I'm not so very sure about 1950s, but definitely 1970s. I don't know the history of those little bulbs, but I do remember that my mother's dryers were time dried, rather than using a sensor. That doesn't mean that other dryers didn't have moisture sensors, it only means that we didn't have a model with such a sensor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 17 2022, @11:00PM (1 child)
Both my washer and dryer are still mechanical.
From the 60s, and they are working just fine.
If their mechanical timers go, I'll just put in a Arduino.
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Wednesday May 18 2022, @08:32AM
An Arduino... and a honking great relay, with some kind of buffer circuitry with reverse-EMF protection, and a bunch of heavy-duty wiring with crimped connectors, with the components properly secured and housed, with the entire unit bolted (and earthed) to the chassis.
Fine fighting words ("Ill just drop in an Arduino!"), but the reality is a day's work for a competent amateur to produce a one-off solution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 18 2022, @03:51AM (1 child)
Modern washers and driers have a lot of sensors in them to work more efficiently. They can monitor the soap levels for example and shut things down if there's an inappropriate amount of soap. They can also often times balance their own load to minimize jumping around. Hell my mother has one that will dispense the right amount of soap on it's own as long as she keeps the reservoir full of soap.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 18 2022, @04:22AM
> the right amount of soap
That probably works OK as long as you use the name-brand soap. What happens when you try a lower priced store brand that is watered down?
Personally, I've found that about half the recommended amount of soap gets my clothes nicely clean. I suspect some self-interest in the recommendations on the soap bottle...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 17 2022, @08:26PM
But they can't use them in the state of Georgia, because they would never stop running.