Analysis
Chipmakers bet on a slower, cheaper future
The race for the smallest transistor is giving way to a quieter race: making good-enough chips in far greater numbers.
Data & investigations editor
6 min read
A wafer of mature-node chips, the kind used in cars, appliances and power grids.
For thirty years, the chip industry measured progress in nanometres. Smaller meant faster, and faster meant better. That logic still drives the most advanced factories.
But the fastest-growing part of the market is moving in the other direction: older, larger, cheaper chips, made in enormous volumes for cars, heat pumps and industrial machines.
Good enough, everywhere
An electric car contains up to 3,000 chips. Fewer than a dozen need to be cutting-edge. The rest are mature designs, many of them more than a decade old.
New factories for these chips are opening in Europe, India and Southeast Asia, often with government support. They are cheaper to build and easier to staff than the most advanced fabs.
“Nobody puts a flagship processor in a washing machine. But everybody needs a washing machine,” an industry analyst said.
The risk of oversupply
Some analysts warn that the rush could lead to a glut by 2028, pushing prices down and squeezing smaller manufacturers. Others argue that electrification will absorb every chip the industry can make.
Mateo Ruiz
Data & investigations editor
Mateo leads Pressio’s data team and the investigations that come out of spreadsheets.
