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0 pointsaurareturn1mo ago0 comments

They are. They're making as many fabs as they can as fast as they can.

The bottleneck is ASML, who can only make so many EUV machines. No one else can make EUV machines.

Scaling chip fabs and chip equipment is much harder. And you have to understand that chip fabs go bankrupt if demand suddenly drops so they have to be more cautious by default.

0 comments

zozbot2341mo ago

If you're really compute constrained do you really need EUV machines? You can make do with DUV fabrication nodes, albeit at somewhat higher cost. The trailing edge is where a lot of the mass impactful innovation is, e.g. trying to replicate more advanced EUV nodes with DUV multiple patterning.

aurareturnOP1mo ago

That’s what’s happening. Companies who were planning a move to advanced nodes for non AI chips are delaying it. All the advanced nodes are going to AI or smartphone chips only.

senordevnyc1mo ago

There was a good episode on Dwarkesh's podcast about this in the last few weeks, just a deep dive into the semiconductor industry and what the bottlenecks are.

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