What Does a Semiconductor Foundry Do?
A semiconductor foundry manufactures chips for other companies, turning a circuit design into physical electronic devices. Its central job is to make the tiny structures and connections that allow a chip to work, then repeat that process reliably across many wafers. Some foundry services also include help with design, packaging and testing. The distinction matters because the company whose name appears on a processor does not necessarily own the factory that fabricated it. Chip design and chip manufacturing solve different problems. Designers decide what a device should do and develop the circuitry needed to achieve it. A foundry supplies a manufacturing process that can turn that circuitry into silicon. TSMC describes its dedicated foundry business as manufacturing customers’ products, rather than selling competing chip designs of its own. Companies that focus on design while contracting out fabrication are often called fabless. Other businesses combine chip design with their own manu...
