Why does Beacon require Blue circuit research when they are not used to craft it?

[Plantagen]

Almost everything in Factorio has a logical research order, and you need to research every part needed to craft X before you can research X. This makes sense.

I noticed today that Beacons are the exception (perhaps there are a few more, but not many).

Beacons require blue chips research, but they do not require blue chips to craft. Why then do we need to research blue chips first?

[boskid]

I tried to find an answer but archeology leads towards a change 13 years ago around game version 0.6.0 when a technology for basic-beacon was added, at that point it had dependencies set to {"modules", "advanced-electronics-2"} and later "advanced-electronics-2" was renamed into "processing-unit". So no constructive answers, it was like that virtually forever.

[astroshak]

Perhaps because blue chips are needed for tier 2 and 3 modules?

Using a beacon for tier 1 modules seems a very expensive proposition for such a small gain.

[Alfonse215]

Perhaps because blue chips are needed for tier 2 and 3 modules?

Using a beacon for tier 1 modules seems a very expensive proposition for such a small gain.

This may have been true pre-2.0, but with beacon scaling, one beacon and 2 speed module 1s give a 60% speed boost. With careful construction, that one beacon can touch 12 machines. That's not a bad investment.

And if you're playing with quality, it can get better.

Also, in SA, if you go for purple science, module 2s may not be on the table yet. So it is a bit weird that you have to get blue chips for beacons.