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Jim Keller's startup is building a factory to mass-produce small chip fabs

126 points by logickkk1

by WithinReason

1 subcomments

That's the one that Sam Zeloof is working on, "having lithographically microfabricated various chips in his garage as early as the age of 17"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Zeloof

by georgeburdell

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I’m a semiconductor expert and without seeing the details, this seems like yet another smoke and mirrors wunderkind startup that will disperse once practical considerations are made. As far as I know, Mr. Zeloof has not made any fundamental advancements in any steps in manufacturing.

by sq_

1 subcomments

The article mentions, but doesn't explicitly state, that they're going to be using electron beam lithography. Makes sense for their low volume and/or prototype fab goal, but I'm curious how well that would work for prototyping to fab at high volume with the likes of TSMC or Intel.
I would assume that re-targeting a design to a different fab's process would change enough about it that you might as well just do verification in simulation rather than sidetrack through Fab2.

by ipsum2

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I don't get it. How is Jim Keller running a brand new, hard tech startup while being CEO of Tenstorrent at the same time?

by jtullos

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Applied for a job, but their recruiter was trash. Still, hope it works out for the company.

by ripe

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I would've liked to read more about what they're doing, but their website fab2.com is unhelpful. Very little info, presented in pointless swirling animations that hijack your scroll action.

by d_silin

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by eikenberry

2 subcomments

by syntaxing

1 subcomments

This is a great idea and hope it works out, especially on shoring chips back here in the states. That being said, their website is absolutely atrocious. One of the very few sites I got motion sickness from scrolling.
[1] https://fab2.com/

by TacticalCoder

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> ... chip architect Jim Keller and DIY fabrication pioneer Sam Zeloof, has rebranded as Fab2 and moved its operations to Texas
> Fab2 now operates three sites: a 120,000 square foot facility in Austin serves as the new headquarters for research and production, a 30,000 square foot site in Lockhart houses the "fab fab" itself, and the original 25,000 square foot "garage fab" remains in San Francisco.
> Fab2 said it shifted its hiring focus to Texas after four years in California
Is California not what it used to be for startups? (I'm not saying Texas doesn't have an history of tech startups: it had the likes of Texas Instruments and many others in the early days)

by holoduke

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How could would ut be that your company or university or even at home has its own chip machine. Design your 5b transistor chip and bake and process it the same day. Doable I would say.

by vatsachak

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Great! Hopefully we can get 10 year behind technology from small fabs. There's so much you can do with a laptop from 2016