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While there's only a limited number of competitors in the high performance ASIC fabrication suitable for fast desktop CPUs space, the number of companies that o

While there's only a limited number of competitors in the high performance ASIC fabrication suitable for fast desktop CPUs space, the number of companies that operate plants that fabricate semiconductors is a lot larger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat... It's also notable that a lot of companies who outsource new chip development still have substantial ties with the people building their foundries and maintain significant capabilities for manufacturing. IBM for instance, could probably run enough of its own fabs again to not rely on fabs from others if it really wanted to. There's also a small handful of fabs owned by governments and universities. And while the trend lately has been towards fabless companies, companies who do their own stunts and run fabs are pretty valuable because of it and eventually it seems likely an area some companies may want to play with again. For instance, can anyone think of a company with billions in cash reserves, a huge bent towards owning as much of its own supply chain as possible and a need for a lot of chips? I can.

fpgeek 14y ago
Indeed. And not only has that company's relationship with their main chip supplier deteriorated, said supplier is hitting capacity constraints while attempting to satisfy their own demand: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-24/chip-shortage-looms-as-samsung-courts-rival-to-fill-orders-tech.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-24/chip-shortage-looms...
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  and said company's other chip partner is building huge capacity in the same country for 14nm process.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    Said company is also well known for investing in and reserving capacity from their partners, so it's not like they don't take a direct role in ensuring they have enough chips. Samsung can't just divert capacity away for their own use if Apple basically owns it for N years.
qompiler 14y ago
There are also tons of companies around the world that perform various sub processes in the microchip manufacturing industry. It's just these couple companies are big enough to do almost everything on their own. But Intel and AMD still rely on external suppliers for lithography machines for example.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  I thought AMD sold their FABs awhile ago?
  - djcapelis 14y ago
    They did. AMD's fabs and manufacturing is what grew into Global Foundries.
ippisl 14y ago
I think you see movement to higher end processes even in non-high end stuff. There are lower-end[1] and higher-end[2] microcontrollers moving to more advanced processes. And due to the unique manufacturing requirements of those(building flash memory on chip), only a few companies can manufacture those.And this especially true since micro-controllers don't make that much money for fab owners. You see the same story in medium-performance-asic's, fpga's, memories ,etc. In the end, even when you don't have to move to newer(and rarer) manufacturing processes , it give you better prices, lower power and more capabilities. So it tends to happen. [1]infeneon manufactures cortex-m0 on 65nm.32-bit , price: 0.25euro-1.25euro. Included for example a math co-processor for better motor control. [2]Renesas manufactures higher end microcontrollers on 40nm and working on 28nm. [3]Marvell does 55nm microcontroller with large ram, which it targets to internet controlled home appliances.

fpgeek 14y ago

Indeed. And not only has that company's relationship with their main chip supplier deteriorated, said supplier is hitting capacity constraints while attempting to satisfy their own demand: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-24/chip-shortage-looms-as-samsung-courts-rival-to-fill-orders-tech.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-24/chip-shortage-looms...

hkmurakami 14y ago
and said company's other chip partner is building huge capacity in the same country for 14nm process.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Said company is also well known for investing in and reserving capacity from their partners, so it's not like they don't take a direct role in ensuring they have enough chips. Samsung can't just divert capacity away for their own use if Apple basically owns it for N years.

qompiler 14y ago

There are also tons of companies around the world that perform various sub processes in the microchip manufacturing industry. It's just these couple companies are big enough to do almost everything on their own. But Intel and AMD still rely on external suppliers for lithography machines for example.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
I thought AMD sold their FABs awhile ago?
- djcapelis 14y ago
  They did. AMD's fabs and manufacturing is what grew into Global Foundries.

ippisl 14y ago

I think you see movement to higher end processes even in non-high end stuff. There are lower-end[1] and higher-end[2] microcontrollers moving to more advanced processes. And due to the unique manufacturing requirements of those(building flash memory on chip), only a few companies can manufacture those.And this especially true since micro-controllers don't make that much money for fab owners. You see the same story in medium-performance-asic's, fpga's, memories ,etc. In the end, even when you don't have to move to newer(and rarer) manufacturing processes , it give you better prices, lower power and more capabilities. So it tends to happen. [1]infeneon manufactures cortex-m0 on 65nm.32-bit , price: 0.25euro-1.25euro. Included for example a math co-processor for better motor control. [2]Renesas manufactures higher end microcontrollers on 40nm and working on 28nm. [3]Marvell does 55nm microcontroller with large ram, which it targets to internet controlled home appliances.