Petz, <Intel has 14 fabs online. How come only 5 are making microprocessors>
Those five are 0.18u fabs. I'm sure there are still several 0.25u fabs churning out Katmai (Pentium III), Tanner (Pentium III Xeon), and Mendocino (Celeron) CPUs.
Also, I work right next to two fabs here in Oregon which is making 0.18u flash products, and those are in addition to the five (or so) 0.18u fabs making processors. Previously, one of those two fabs was making 0.35u products, from Klamath (classic Pentium II) to 450NX (4-way Xeon chipset).
Furthermore, there has to be several fabs that make high-volume chipsets, from the venerable 440BX (I think on 0.35u) to the 810e and 820 (I think on 0.25u). And in terms of sheer die size alone, chipsets consume more silicon that processors, although they are usually made on a process that is one generation behind the leading edge.
And finally, there are the "miscellaneous" products, such as StrongARM, microcontrollers, etc.
<80% of Intel's core business?>
Well, some fabs are dedicated toward manufacturing chipsets. And chipsets are seen as "enabling" sales of processors. I think sooner or later, chipsets should be seen more as an independent business unit in itself, but until then, they'll continue to play "Sideshow Bob" next to the star attraction.
How's that for a partial explanation to all your questions?
Tenchusatsu |
