There is a lot of "stuff" in relatively small areas. For example a cubic mm (aka μl or microliter) of water has 10^20 atoms: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input

There is a lot of "stuff" in relatively small areas. For example a cubic mm (aka μl or microliter) of water has 10^20 atoms: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+mm+of+water+in+atoms https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+cubic+mm+of+water+in... As another example, the well studied bacteria E. coli is approximately 2 μm^2 [0]. So in the same 1 mm^2 used by TSMC, 500,000 entire living organisms could be fit. [0] http://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-is-an-e-coli-cell-and-what-is-its-mass/ http://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-is-an-e-coli-cell-and-wha...