fabless

One-line definition: A chip business model that designs semiconductors but outsources their fabrication, abstracting design from manufacturing so each side can specialize.

How sources describe it

• A leading-edge fab now costs ~$15B; few companies can afford one, so the economics favor fabless. Abstracting design from manufacturing and specializing in one side “has allowed this big flowering of design companies to chip companies to take off” (source: Apple Earnings, An Interview with Jay Goldberg About Chips and Intel).
• Represents the shift away from vertically integrated design+hardware toward a merchant-silicon model.

Where it shows up

• Apple Earnings, An Interview with Jay Goldberg About Chips and Intel — the fab-cost economics and the design/manufacturing split.

Conflicts

None recorded yet.