Fab

Where the book uses it

• Chapter 5 — The Island in Every Machine

  Why every accelerator runs through Taiwan: the foundry, the packaging and the memory that are booked years ahead, and what that does to anyone arriving late with cash.

Sources that use it

• Bureau of Industry and Security, US Department of Commerce, “Department of Commerce Closes Export Controls Loophole for Foreign-Owned Semiconductor Fabs in China,” press release, 29 August 2025 (“Going forward, BIS intends to grant export license applications to allow former VEU participants to operate their existing fabs in China”; “However, BIS does not intend to grant licenses to expand capacity or upgrade technology at fabs in China”; “Former VEU participants will have 120 days following publication of the rule in the Federal Register to apply for and obtain export licenses”; a stated intention in a release, not the rule’s text). In the Sources
• Micron Technology, “Micron Accelerates U.S. Investments, Pours First Concrete at New York Fab,” 9 July 2026 (first concrete at the Clay, New York site “more than one quarter ahead of the original plan”; planned US investment raised to more than $250 billion through 2035; Idaho “first wafer output expected in mid-calendar 2027 for the first fab and late calendar 2028 for the second”; up to four fabs in New York). In the Sources
• TrendForce, “TSMC Reportedly Eyes 2H27 3nm Mass Production at Arizona Fab 2, Four U.S. Fabs Said to Be Fully Booked,” 24 March 2026 (fab 2’s 3-nanometer mass production “as early as” the second half of 2027; for sub-2-nanometer nodes a capacity mix of roughly 70 percent Taiwan and 30 percent United States by 2030; this report carries no $165 billion figure; the step from $165 billion to $265 billion is TSMC’s own, given on its second-quarter 2026 earnings call in July 2026). In the Sources
• TSMC, press releases on the earthquake of 21 September 1999, Hsinchu and San Jose, 21 to 30 September 1999, and TSMC, “1999 3Q Earnings Release,” 22 October 1999 (21 September: “full electrical power is still unavailable in the Hsinchu Science-Based Park”; 25 September: “after five days following the devastating earthquake, 20 percent of the Company’s wafer process equipment has already been released for production”; 30 September: “Today is the 10th day after the earthquake,” with “95 percent of the Company’s wafer process equipment” released and wafer moves “more than 90 percent,” and “in the short term TSMC’s wafer output will still be lower than usual”; 22 October: “Currently, 100% of wafer process equipment has been released for production,” and “An estimate of 23,000 wafers were scrapped because of the earthquake”; 21 September, release 2167, as of 11:00 a.m.: “the company’s buildings, HVAC systems, water distribution and power distribution systems successfully withstood the effects of a major earthquake”; 27 September, release 2175: “our Fab 5 is expected to catch up a few days later because the damage is slightly more serious”). In the Sources
• TSMC, “TSMC Announces Intention to Build and Operate an Advanced Semiconductor Fab in the United States,” release, Hsinchu, 15 May 2020, filed on Form 6-K the same day (the Arizona fab “will utilize TSMC’s 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity”; “Construction is planned to start in 2021 with production targeted to begin in 2024.”; “TSMC’s total spending on this project, including capital expenditure, will be approximately US$12 billion from 2021 to 2029.”; an intention the release makes conditional on American investment policy). In the Sources

And 4 more: search the Sources.

Related terms

• Advanced packaging
• AI factory
• Booked, allocated, rationed
• CHIPS Act
• Convertible
• CoWoS
• Custom silicon
• Cut-out
• DRAM
• EUV
• Foundry
• H200