【答案解析】In early 2001, Silicon Valley, the US center of high technology, suffered a great depression. Now the depression is over, but its fallouts continue to drive prices down. Tech companies have to dump on the markets high tech equipments at very low prices, as investors want to get cash. The outsourcing revolution has exerted downward pressure on global production costs. Also, the large labor forces in ultra-low-cost emerging-market manufacturing bases, like China, are intensifying pressures on prices.