hardware//manufacturing//fab

A fab is a semiconductor fabrication facility (a foundry) that manufactures chip dies from silicon wafers. Fabrication involves hundreds of lithography, etching, deposition and doping steps, and a leading-edge fab costs more than $20B.

A fab is a semiconductor fabrication facility (a foundry) that manufactures chip dies from silicon wafers. Fabrication involves hundreds of lithography, etching, deposition and doping steps, and a leading-edge fab costs more than $20B.

Process nodes (TSMC 3nm, Samsung 4nm, Intel 18A) define transistor density and power efficiency.

The main foundries are TSMC, Samsung and Intel. Foundries like TSMC produce ASIC, SoC, CPU and GPU dies for fabless companies.

Sensors do not require the latest node: Apple buys its sensors from Bosch, and no 3nm is needed for them.