Category
chips
Everything we have published on chips, newest first.

Why only a few foundries make the leading-edge chips
Leading-edge chip manufacturing has collapsed to a handful of companies, in practice one clear leader and two challengers. The reasons are structural: staggering cost, an unforgiving learning curve, and a feedback loop that punishes falling behind. Here is how it works.
BitByteCore Silicon Desk · Jul 31, 2026 · 8 min read

What a Nanometer Process Node Really Means
The number on a process node, 7nm, 3nm, now 2nm, is a marketing label, not a measurement of anything physical on the chip. Here is what it actually tracks, and the metrics that describe a chip honestly.
BitByteCore Silicon Desk · Jul 31, 2026 · 9 min read

CoWoS, SoIC, and Foveros: How Advanced Chip Packaging Actually Works
Modern chips are split into many dies, then wired back together in the package. Three technologies do that reintegration: TSMC's CoWoS and SoIC and Intel's Foveros and EMIB. Here is how 2.5D and 3D packaging physically differ, what the CoWoS variants change, and why the packaging line, not the
BitByteCore Silicon Desk · Jul 30, 2026 · 11 min read

TSMC's Pricing Power: How One Foundry Sets the Cost of Every Advanced Chip
TSMC sells wafers, not chips, and prices them by process node. Here is how one foundry's leading-edge grip puts a floor under the cost of every advanced phone chip, GPU, and AI accelerator, why switching is nearly impossible, and where the toll actually lands.
BitByteCore Silicon Desk · Jul 30, 2026 · 10 min read

How EUV Lithography Works, in Plain Terms
EUV uses 13.5nm light to print the smallest features on modern chips. The way that light is made, lost, and steered off precision mirrors is one of the strangest feats in manufacturing, and by 2026 it is what makes 2nm-class chips possible.
BitByteCore Silicon Desk · Jul 30, 2026 · 8 min read
More stories
Article · chipsAI Inference on the Edge: How Embedded Chips in Cars, Cameras, and Appliances Actually WorkJul 29, 2026 · 12 min read
Article · chipsRISC-V vs ARM vs x86: The Honest ComparisonJul 29, 2026 · 10 min read
Article · chipsHBM Explained: Why High-Bandwidth Memory Is the Real Bottleneck in AI ChipsJul 29, 2026 · 12 min read
Article · chipsWhat Chiplets Are and Why Chipmakers Moved to ThemJul 28, 2026 · 10 min read
Article · chipsThe Foundry Moat Moved to the PackageJul 27, 2026 · 5 min read