[jiggawatts]

This sounds like it could be centralised, a bit like the clouds in the IT world. A low failure rate of 1-3% is comparable to servers in a rack, but if you have thousands of them, then this is just a statistic and not a servicing issue. Several hyperscalers simply leave failed nodes where they are, it’s not worth the bother to service them!

Maybe the next startup idea is biochemistry as a service, centralised to a large lab facility with hundreds of each device, maintained by a dedicated team of on-site professionals.

[dekhn]

None of the companies that proposed this concept have managed to demonstrate strong marketplace viability. A lot of discovery science remains extremely manual, artisinal, and vehemently opposed to automation.