What does the nm mean here tho? Diameter of a silicon atom is about 0…25 nm
It means density of transistors per square mm in relation to TSMC N3 (‘3nm’) and N2 (‘2nm’
At this point it just refers to ‘next generations after 2nm’. Not only does the process obviously not exist, they haven’t decided on what transistor structure to use either whether GAAFET or a successor.
Rapidus was created last year and only started clearing the plot of land to build their first fab in September. Talking about 1nm production is putting the cart before the horse, they aren’t expecting their first 2nm node to be in production until 2027. Let’s not forget that GloFo had decades of experience, bought IBMs fabs, and had an EUV machine and still called it quits on pursuing the leading edge after years of failing. Intel had numerous issues with 10nm, and TSMC and Samsung are now struggling with 3nm. Point being, talk is cheap and execution is extremely hard in the industry.
I was at GloFlo when it happened. They shut down because of lack of customers and Mubadala did not want to fund another process tech which was not going to bring any profits.
But your point is still valid, even if they did somehow come up with a process recipe, with HVM worthy defect density, meeting their perf targets, they have to get customers. All this will easily take a decade.