The #1 question that often gets asked already is how many Chromebooks can we provide or are we looking to supply. The answer currently is that around 4000-6000 have been identified in the US so far across multiple suppliers at the time of writing. Meanwhile, using Cambodia as an example.. the average # scraped together for schools and similar programs is anywhere between 5-20 pcs at a time.
However even if we took ALL of the Chromebooks that Americans currently don't value or need, there may still not be even enough to supply Cambodia much less all the other regions given the sheer scale of need. Buying up reasonably recent workable refurbs as quickly as we can is only a short term solution. Long term supply needs to exist and a macro solution needs. An important milestone has been achieved at the end of the current/now previous generation of laptops/processors where they have finally become affordable/mobile/power efficient/"good enough" for the last mile of human civilization, the third world who still have yet to computerize for the most part to finally be able to join the computing revolution that the rest of the world has long enjoyed aka the "siliconomy" as Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger puts it.
Where is the crisis?
Intel has recently launched their Meteor Lake generation of laptops. It is a quantum sea change compared to last decade's generation of laptops where the numbers just didn't tick up and the Ghz and core counts didn't just go up a slight notch, this is the first generation EVER with AI co-procesor tech built in while the integrated graphics are a whole different beast incorporating "real GPU" elements normally only found in separate aka discrete GPU's coming from their Arc Graphics line.
The downside here is that the prices have effectively doubled and the fancy tech is not cheap, not even for the average American. As per usual, when asked some Intel employees have said that the prior generation will just be quietly phased out with little fanfare or announcement and the cycle repeats with a third of the planet or more left behind yet again.
Initially I thought this is something that could be solved via the extremely well heeled of America's Non profit industrial complex but the true realization of what it would mean to still keep things going is likely to mean that we will need to engage the govts of developing countries themselves to support and not only Intel as to what would it really take to keep production alive. We're not against new technology, the pricing is the only issue.
The other question is... how have the economics been achieved? are production costs still fairly expensive and the low costs have been achieved via accounting tricks? i.e. amortization and depreciation? these questions are still yet to be answered.
There is a for profit side of what we're doing that could address this at a local level but in terms being enough of a customer to keep that line of business going with Intel (OR Amd) could be very large price tag that no one company or even deep pocketed foundation/s can address...