Get the latest tech news
How to build a $20B semiconductor fab
For the last several decades, one avenue of technological progress has towered over nearly everything else: semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials that can have their conductivity varied by many orders of magnitude, which makes it possible to selectively block and allow the flow of electrons. This property makes it possible to manufacture all sorts of electronic devices, not least of which is the digital computer.
Creating objects this small requires ultra-precise manufacturing equipment, and a production environment that can screen out as many sources of interference as possible; every rogue speck of dust or tiny fluctuation in electrical voltage. At the bottom of the chip, the area marked FEOL (front end of line) on the graphic above are the semiconductor components themselves: transistors, capacitors, resistors, diodes, and all the other parts created out of silicon to make a microchip. This extreme vibration sensitivity is exacerbated by the enormous amount of potentially vibration-generating machinery and equipment in a fab such as motors, pumps, HVAC systems, and even fluid flow in pipes.
Or read this on Hacker News