Explained: The unbelievably complex process of making semiconductor chips

The news of Foxconn-Vedanta's $19.5 billion semiconductor deal falling apart may be a temporary setback for India, striving to achieve its vision of becoming a major global hub in semiconductor manufa...

Jul 13, 2023, 09:53 IST5 min

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Automated robots transport wafers at an advanced production fab. Semiconductor technologies are so advanced that it"s impossible to catch up without pumping in vast sums of money. Building ...

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Workers gather for a ceremony that marks the beginning of bulk production of advanced 3-nanometer chips at a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) facility in Tainan, Taiwan, Decemb...

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A file photo of TSMC chairman Morris Chang in Hsinchu, Taiwan, October 5, 2017. Chinese-born engineer Morris Chang, who founded TSMC in 1987, studied at Harvard, Stanford and MIT and worked...

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Creating a chip takes hundreds of steps, each with many variables, leading to less than a quarter of the final output being usable. After six to eight weeks of painstaking etching and testi...

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A file photo of employees working on a lithography machine at the ASML Holding NV factory in Veldhoven, Netherlands. ASML, a Dutch company, has a complete hold over the global semiconductor...

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Employees work on Apple iPhone production at a Foxconn factory on September 4, 2021, in Zhongmu County, Henan, China. TSMC"s recent success has been linked to one client"s trust in particul...

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A file photo of the 8080 microprocessor, the first microprocessor powerful enough to build a computer around, introduced by Intel in 1974. Pioneers like Intel designed and built chips in-ho...

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An aerial view of Keelung Harbour, Taiwan, on August 4, 2022, as China held military exercises encircling Taiwan. Caught in the tug-of-war between the US and China, TSMC"s success is a walk...

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A "First Tool-In" ceremony at the TSMC facility under construction in Phoenix, Arizona, US, on December 6, 2022. Despite its dominance of chip design, America is racing to build chipmaking ...

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China, meanwhile, has been casting billions at the semiconductor problem with limited success. Its largest chipmaker SMIC cut off from advanced chip tech due to US sanctions, trails years b...

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US company Micron Tech"s decision to invest $285 million in India is a significant boost for India"s semiconductor industry, even if it only intends to set up a chip assembly testing and pa...

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