Unless you live under a rock, in which case you wouldn't have dsl, you would know about Hurricane katrina rippin a hole in the U.S. Now you might say we live too far away to be affected, but we arnt. Apart from the people who are directly affected, loss of life and business, the gamers will be hit by the ripple effect.
1. A majour city in the states wiped out. This will decrease overall demand for computer electronics, not to mention those people who would rather donate money to help with the relief efforts.
2. Majour companies with bases in the affected areas, will create a loss in productivity(ultimately revenue), insurance will pay for damages.
3. Oil prices will hurt everyone, the entire economy will feel it, we feel it less cuz we have it in the ground but shippin that amd64 will cost u more.
In the end I am not sure if chip manufacturers will A) drop supply to account for the drop in demand. B)drop supply and increase prices the make up for the loss in revenue. You can make up your mind on that one. But i know one thing for sure, R&D will take a hit, how hard will depend on the company. So expect a slow down in ATI and Nvidia, shittin out graphic cards like dey have diarrhea.
http://eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170701684http://news.com.com/2060-10792_3-0.html