"Real men have fabs!"

does not apply anymore

Prelude

“Real men have fabs” was an insult AMD founder Jerry Sanders hurled at his poor competitors who could not afford to build fabs. A few years later, AMD would be fabless, spinning off its manufacturing facilities as GlobalFoundries. This was the beginning of a transformative period for the industry.

Lisa Su could rightfully retort: “Real women don’t need fabs!”

Before the transformative era, all semiconductor companies were Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) that held the reins of designing, manufacturing, packaging, testing, and selling all their semiconductors.

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Being a leader in all aspects of Semiconductor Manufacturing was becoming increasingly complex and expensive. Only a few companies had the market position and the financial strength to continue as IDMs.

The first elements to be outs…