Explorer/Supply chain/Chip Making
02

Chip Making

Foundries that fabricate wafers, the equipment that patterns and etches them, the gases and chemicals that fill the cleanroom, and the packaging houses that turn bare die into finished chips.

60companies
3chokepoints
4sub-roles
Chokepoints in this layer
3 positions here have no real alternative supplier. TSM (advanced semiconductor foundry), ASML (euv lithography systems) and KLAC (wafer inspection and metrology). A disruption at any one ripples through the entire chain downstream.

Equipment & Process Control

30 companies
AAgilent Technologies, Inc.Semiconductor test equipmentACLSAxcelis Technologies, Inc.Ion implantation systemsACMRACM Research, Inc.Semiconductor wafer cleaning equipmentAEHRAehr Test SystemsWafer test burn-in systemsAMATApplied Materials, Inc.Semiconductor deposition and etch toolsASMLASML Holding N.V.CHOKEPOINTEUV lithography systemsASYSAmtech Systems, Inc.Semiconductor furnace systemsBRKRBruker CorporationAnalytical and metrology instrumentsCAMTCamtek Ltd.Semiconductor inspection systemsCECOCECO Environmental Corp.Industrial air pollution controlsCOHUCohu, Inc.Semiconductor test handling equipmentFORMFormFactor, Inc.Semiconductor probe cardsICHRIchor Holdings, Ltd.Gas delivery subsystemsIPGPIPG Photonics CorporationIndustrial fiber lasersKLACKLA CorporationCHOKEPOINTWafer inspection and metrologyKLICKulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc.Wire bonding equipmentLASRnLIGHT, Inc.High-power semiconductor lasersLRCXLam Research CorporationSemiconductor etch and depositionMKSIMKS Inc.Vacuum and gas control instrumentsMTDMettler-Toledo International Inc.Precision weighing instrumentsNDSNNordson CorporationPrecision dispensing and coating systemsNOVTNovanta Inc.Laser and photonics subsystemsNPOEnPro Industries, Inc.Sealing and bearing productsNVMINova Ltd.Optical metrology systemsONTOOnto Innovation Inc.Wafer inspection and metrologyRALRalliant CorpSemiconductor materials and equipmentSHMDSCHMID Group N.V. Class A Ordinary SharesElectrochemical plating systemsTERTeradyne, Inc.Semiconductor test equipmentUCTTUltra Clean Holdings, Inc.Gas delivery subsystemsVECOVeeco Instruments Inc.Ion beam deposition systems
Deep teardownComing soon
Inside the chip making layer
A full physical decomposition of this layer of the buildout — what goes where, who makes it, and where the bottlenecks are. Links here when the teardown publishes under Learn.