How come we only have 3 CPU/GPU brands?

[iiNNeX]

Wow this thread escalated quickly, I just managed to get some free time and catch up on it. Thank you for all the valuable information guys, a lot of stuff I was not aware of here. Few things to point out though:

 

-  Yes I was talking about x86 mainstream desktop processors (so no ARM/Samsung/VIA since they are not on the shelves)

- I am aware of ATI dying and essentially merging with AMD to become their Radeon group

- And yes I assumed cost and complexity of getting a supply chain together would be the end result, but patents and other background info on x86/x64 I did not know, so thank you!

 

Well with everything said so far I am sort of disappointed that we won't have more competition any time soon. I think more choice is definitely healthy for the industry but I understand that the potential gains will not be as much as other lucrative markets such as mobile chip manufacturing.

[Apepa]

I was thinking about this, and more than anything the reason has to be the difficulty and expense of actually fabricating the chips.

 

If they were still hard to design, but relatively easy to manufacture, there would still be a lot of scope for sketchy companies in developing countries to produce chips without regard to patent infringement. But as it stands, since fabrication of modern chips is extremely expensive and controlled by a small group of companies, such an operation would have no way of entering the market.