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Fabless
팹리스
A company that only designs semiconductors and has no factory. It leaves the making to a foundry.
Overview
A fab is a semiconductor factory. Fabless means having no such factory. These companies draw the blueprint for which chip to make and how, build the software that runs on the chip, and sell the finished chip under their own name.
They do not have to spend the huge sums it takes to build and run a factory, so they can put their energy into new designs. Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD are the best-known examples, and companies like Apple that design chips for their own products use the same approach. The downside is that if they cannot get a slot at a factory that will make their chips, they cannot bring out the chips.
An everyday example
It is like a fashion company that designs clothes and sells them under its own label, but leaves the sewing to a specialist factory.
Why it matters
The companies best known for AI chips are fabless. If you know who designs a chip and who makes it, the relationships among the companies in chip news fall into place at a glance.
Also calledfabless company, fabless chip company