ROOT / SILICON // LEADING-EDGE FABS
// Silicon · decoded · deep-research pass
Leading-Edge Fabs, decoded.
Every fab pushing the process frontier, node and capacity deep.
CURATED INDEX◊ confidence: High
// the signal · what the data says
Leading-edge logic is a near-monopoly: TSMC makes essentially all frontier AI silicon, with Samsung a distant second and Intel Foundry trying to re-enter at 18A/14A. The bottleneck is EUV tool count (all from ASML) and, at 2nm and below, High-NA EUV. Fab siting is now a geopolitical instrument (US CHIPS Act, Arizona, Japan, Germany).
// comparison · every entry, benchmarked & annotated
| Name | Maker | Node (nm) | Capacity (kwpm) | EUV tools | Country |
|---|
| GigaFab (Hsinchu/Tainan) | TSMC | 2 | 120 | 40 | Taiwan |
| ◊ N2 ramping 2025-26, backbone of AI silicon |
| Fab 21 (Arizona) | TSMC | 3 | 50 | 18 | USA |
| ◊ N4/N3, N2 planned; CHIPS-funded |
| Kikuyo (Kumamoto) | TSMC/JASM | 12 | 55 | 6 | Japan |
| ◊ 22/28 + 12/16 nm, Sony/Denso |
| Pyeongtaek P3 | Samsung | 3 | 80 | 25 | Korea |
| ◊ SF3/SF2 GAA |
| Fab 52 (Arizona) | Intel | 2 | 40 | 12 | USA |
| ◊ 18A/14A, RibbonFET+PowerVia |
| Dresden ESMC | TSMC/ESMC | 12 | 40 | 0 | Germany |
| ◊ Auto/industrial, DUV |
// leaderboard · Node (nm)
01GigaFab (Hsinchu/Tainan)2
02Fab 52 (Arizona)2
03Fab 21 (Arizona)3
04Pyeongtaek P33
05Kikuyo (Kumamoto)12
06Dresden ESMC12
// sources & where to verify
// full index, per-field sourcing & CSV export [ AUTHENTICATE → ]
◊ Deep-research pass, mid-2026. Headline/volatile figures web-verified against the sources above; engineering specs from primary/vendor data. Green = best value in column · confidence: High · verify volatile figures (prices, counts, live feeds) before publishing.