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There is also the DDB or SDB in FinFet, those dummy transistors are used as well for marketing count bragging.
Another issue is the clock tree. Large area chips may have longer clock trees which requires a lot of buffers to eliminate critical paths for performance sign-off. Also the fan-out...
That's why Germany has so few well succeed companies, right ? /s
Nowdays running fabs is all about automation, the key elements are supply chain and talented engineers. Can you start a fab in Portugal or Czech Republic ? Yes, for sure, but can you bring 1000+ skilled engineers to work there ...
Silicon shield is the hype term being pushed by the media recently. IMHO this is a total BS.
US closing ties to Taiwan is much more related to South China Sea than anything else. In long term this narrative can be harmful to TSMC. If CCP feels threatened by a "Silicon Shield" it would do...
After node shrink there is a high possibility of 3D monolithic going mainstream. I am skeptical about exotic materials HVM. I also think there is a great chance of seeing a hybrid cmos + quantum. Quantum will probably always require cryogenics, so I see those chips running in huge data centers...
