Consumer era gives birth to 'gigafabs'

摘要

Austin, Texas —Just as giants of the retail world are erecting massive "megastores," so the chip industry is eyeing supersized foundries to build the ICs for the products that wind up on those retailers' shelves. "Consumer-use [semiconductor] products are driving manufacturers to a new frontier," Mark Liu, vice president of operations at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., said at a manufacturing-productivity conference here last week.