Editor’s note: This article was first published in April 2013. It is a news piece: 14 nm was then still in testing, and the list of four leading-edge manufacturers reflects that moment. GlobalFoundries later dropped out of the race for the most advanced nodes, so the list is out of date.
Making advanced microchips has always been hard, but now, with today’s demand, the number of companies with the know-how, technology and money to manufacture them is about to shrink to just four.
The plants where microchips are made can cost billions. They produce the chips for every advanced smartphone, personal computer and server, and for many other critical pieces of the infrastructure that technological innovation depends on.
The smallest features on microchips now being tested have shrunk to 14 nanometres, on the scale of atoms and cells: the equivalent of 50 water molecules.
According to Business Insider, the only companies able to pull off this nanoscale manufacturing feat for a wide range of microchips are Intel, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and GlobalFoundries. GlobalFoundries announced today that it aims to become the world’s leading chipmaker, both by volume of business and by revenue.
By 2014, new innovations and the incorporation of silicon into components will make it even harder for other manufacturers to enter the market, so the world economy will depend more than ever on a small group of manufacturers.
Featured image: Fensterblick ., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
