fal(via MD&A)> "... easily integrated into current semiconductor production facilities extending the profitable utilization of fabrication equipment and production lines that would otherwise be considered at the end of life."

from one of JH's earlier articles:

"There’s a famous saying sometimes attributed to Robert Palmer, one-time CEO of Digital. “Building semiconductors is like playing Russian roulette. You put a gun to your head, pull the trigger, and find out four years later if you blew your brains out.”"

in analagous terms, with Pelligrino v1.0 having graced the stage in 2011, I guess you could say that since this is 2014, we're in year #3.

next year, I suppose we find out whether we blew our brains out or hit a home run.

:-)

I was originally going to chase the validity of a hypothesis for why this might be behind why fab42 was mothballed, but something deeper leads me to want to instead ask WHO is behind the 100nm requirement?

cui bono?

(aside from Sammy, who I'd bet would be all over the tri-modal RAM)

and that has me down the path of trying to determine what fabs are out there now.

(tangent: if PET is CMOS bolt-on, does it have to constrain on being GaAs?)

if it is a GaAs fab that's first in line, then perhaps these might be of interest

• Compound Photonics, based out of Phoenix, but their wafer fab in UK is the largest in Europe, at 50,000 sqft.
• in Taiwan, WinSemi (nee Lucent/Philips/TRW) has almost two-thirds of the entire GaAs foundry market share, and was the first in the world to do 6"
• I think nearby AWSC still just does 4"; Wavetek does their thing at UMC's Fab 6A.
• Freescale (via Skyworks?) ended up with Motorola's CS1 fab in Tempe (38,000 sqft), closed in 2008. Did it get pieced out, or is it parked but covered in cobwebs?
• Anadigics (Fairchild) on-shore in New Jersey is about 20,000 sqft.
• I've personally always liked TriQuint, and they're presently in the right space (150nm and 100 nm). Their merger with RFMD (Filtronic) adds heft, and Hillsboro keeps the "in my backyard" factor for the DoD-types vs. if the IP went offshore.
• reaching here, but the path into AAPL might be via their acquisition of Renesas? (qv the patent filing for Japan)

so.

any takers for a wager on WHO most benefits from the drive to 100nm?

curious,

R.