alt Hacker NewsNo one seriously denies the actual activity was happening, they just dispute its implications, and for good reason. Vendors frequently extend financing with the hope of making more sales, the most obvious example being auto loans and BNPL
No one seriously denies the actual activity was happening, they just dispute its implications, and for good reason. Vendors frequently extend financing with the hope of making more sales, the most obvious example being auto loans and BNPL
Vendor financing is already a sign of an unhealthy market. When widespread, almost always. If the only easy way you can borrow enough to buy a thing is from the vendor, that’s bad. And if vendor financing is an increasing, not decreasing, proportion of the finance in a market, that’s worse.
Channel-stuffing, if it is happening, is usually plain illegal.
The implications are obvious: if people are using GPU scarcity and prices as a proxy for AI demand (and they absolutely have and still are, at every level), and use it as an indication that they must secure GPUs while they can, then it matters a lot if in fact that demand is being padded out and front-loaded in various ways.