When I interned at IBM and this was a big deal. IBM was really invested on being "vertically" integrated "from sand to software" as they would say. One wonders what another run at this concept would be like given advances in semiconductor manufacture.
I have often wondered if a chip fab that could make 1,000 chips of a given type economically (which is to say using your custom chip in your system was less expensive than adopting an off the shelf chip) would be a thing. The whole 'tiny tapeout' thing would be a lot more interesting too.
Node size and price / sq mm? The last time I looked at what it would cost to have a partial wafer it was > $25,000 (of which slightly more than half was NRE charges) but would love to find something "hobbyist accessible." !
I have often wondered if a chip fab that could make 1,000 chips of a given type economically (which is to say using your custom chip in your system was less expensive than adopting an off the shelf chip) would be a thing. The whole 'tiny tapeout' thing would be a lot more interesting too.
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