It&#x27;s a couple of things.<p>First, cell phones ate <i>EVERYTHING</i>.  So, the only volume is in cell phones.  Cell phones only need a few different <i>types</i> of chips but they need them in <i>massive</i> quantities.<p>Second, the cost of creating a chip is too high.  The &quot;maker&quot; culture relies on the fact that creating a PCB is <i>cheap</i>.  Between the cost for EDA VLSI tools and the NRE for creating a mask set, you blow $100K before you even get started making a chip.  I suspect that we probably have the ability to digitally image 1.0um or larger features so we don&#x27;t have to cut a mask set, but it&#x27;s a chicken&#x2F;egg problem.  Since nobody wants 1.0um+ processes anymore, nobody will develop the technology for them, so nobody will design for them, so nobody will want 1.0um+ processes.<p>Third, modern fab capacity is <i>ridiculous</i>.  A <i>single</i> 300mm wafer can produce <i>70,000</i> 1mm^2 chips or 700 1cm^2 (a big chip nowadays).  How many customers can consume those kinds of volumes?