Despite high development costs, using smaller nodes yields larger revenue per wafer.

The success and proliferation of integrated circuits has largely hinged on the ability of IC manufacturers to continue offering more performance and functionality for the money.  Driving down the cost of ICs (on a per-function or per-performance basis) is inescapably tied to a growing arsenal of technologies and wafer-fab manufacturing disciplines as mainstream CMOS processes reach their theoretical, practical, and economic limits.

Based on data presented in IC Insights’ new edition of The McClean Report (released in January 2020), many IC companies are now designing high-performance microprocessors, application processors, and other advanced logic devices based on 10nm and 7nm process technology.  Some of the current iterations from logic and foundry suppliers are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1