A report by The Information claims that the world’s biggest chipmaker is considering adding memory back into its portfolio, starting with next-generation 3D DRAM.
With demand still outpacing supply and prices sky-high, the outlet says it could compete with memory giants Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix to develop and produce 3D DRAM technology that stacks chips vertically for increased bandwidth, capacity, and power efficiency.
[Link: TSMC Weighs Making Advanced Memory Chips to Capture More AI Spending | https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tsmc-weighs-making-advanced-memory-chips-capture-ai-spending?rc=v4bmzs | The Information]
There’s been a lot of efforts to expand American fabs. Intel, Micron, and TSMC are all working on it (and I’m pretty sure most of those projects have at least broken ground at this point). But even with infinity dollars to spend, it takes a very long time to build these plants. The fabs are similar in size to a “normal” factory, but the entire interior is a series of massive clean rooms that are hundreds if not thousands of times cleaner than an operating room, filled with equipment that is simultaneously very large and very sensitive.
I remember reading somewhere that one of Intel’s newest process nodes involves drilling holes measured in hundreds of picometers into the part at some point. A hydrogen atom is roughly 62 picometers across.