The capital cost of a semiconductor fabrication plant roughly doubles every four years.
Arthur Rock's observation. It is why fabrication has consolidated to a handful of firms worldwide — the capital cost now exceeds what most national economies will underwrite.
In practice
- A chip designer with a better architecture and no plant licenses it to one of the three firms that can still afford to build one.
- A government offering to subsidise a domestic fabrication plant finds the figure has doubled between the feasibility study and the decision.
- Subject
- Economics & Incentives
- Essay
- The regularities money obeys