cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/24313827
Seriously, what the fuck is going on with fabs right now?
Micron has found a way to add new DRAM manufacturing capacity in a hurry by acquiring a chipmaking campus from Taiwanese outfit Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC).
The two companies announced the deal last weekend. Micron’s version of events says it’s signed a letter of intent to acquire Powerchip’s entire P5 site in Tongluo, Taiwan, for total cash consideration of US$1.8 billion.
I mean you can’t do it in your garage, but if you have the facility with the machines and the staff and the knowledge then yeah it’s not hard.
There is actually a guy making CMOS transistors in his garage because he has some of the machines, but he can’t make them micro-sized and can’t make whole die sheets. (Also that’s transistors for processors, not memory, but they parallel.)