# Chipmakers Sector The semiconductor industry is the physical foundation of the AI revolution and one of the most geopolitically consequential industries on earth. Every frontier AI model, every GPU cluster, every autonomous weapon system ultimately depends on a supply chain that passes through a handful of companies — most of them concentrated in East Asia. This sector MOC maps the vault's coverage of that supply chain. ## The supply chain stack The chip industry operates in layers, each with its own competitive dynamics and chokepoints: **Equipment (the machine that builds the machine):** [[ASML]] holds a 100% monopoly on EUV lithography — no advanced chips can be manufactured without its machines. [[Applied Materials]] is the world's largest semiconductor equipment company by revenue, dominant in deposition and ion implantation. [[Lam Research]] holds the top market share in etch equipment. [[KLA Corporation]] controls 58% of the process control and inspection market. Together with ASML, these four companies form the equipment oligopoly that [[Chip Export Controls]] depend on — and that every fab on earth requires. **Foundries (contract manufacturing):** [[TSMC]] fabricates the large majority of the world's advanced logic chips, including every [[NVIDIA]] AI GPU. [[Samsung]] operates a distant second foundry (7.2% share in 2025). [[Intel]] is attempting to build a competitive foundry under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, backed by [[CHIPS and Science Act]] subsidies — the success or failure of Intel Foundry will determine whether the US has any domestic source for leading-edge chips. [[GlobalFoundries]], majority-owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, occupies a strategic niche in specialty and mature-node chips, with a $16B US expansion and a $375M CHIPS Act quantum foundry designation. **Logic chip designers (fabless):** [[NVIDIA]] dominates AI training and inference GPUs. [[AMD]] is the primary alternative, with its Instinct MI450 series winning OpenAI as a customer. Both are fabless — they design chips but outsource manufacturing to [[TSMC]]. [[Qualcomm]] is the world's largest wireless chip vendor, dominant in smartphone processors and expanding into automotive and AI inference. [[Broadcom]] is a $1.5 trillion conglomerate building custom AI accelerators for [[Google]], [[Meta]], [[Anthropic]], and [[OpenAI]], alongside its networking chip and VMware software businesses. **IP licensing:** [[Arm Holdings]], majority-owned by [[SoftBank]], doesn't manufacture chips but licenses the CPU architecture that powers 99% of the world's smartphones and an expanding share of data center processors. Over 325 billion Arm-based chips have shipped to date. **Analog and embedded (IDM):** [[Texas Instruments]] is the world's largest analog chip company — the "boring but essential" power management, signal processing, and data conversion chips that every electronic device requires, from AI servers to automobiles. TI both designs and manufactures its own chips, and is historically significant as the company where Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958. **Memory (HBM):** High-bandwidth memory is the bottleneck feeding data to AI GPUs. Only three companies manufacture HBM at scale: [[SK Hynix]] (60–70% market share, dominant NVIDIA supplier), [[Samsung]] (15–20%), and [[Micron]] (the only US-based producer). All three have sold out their entire 2026 HBM production. ## Geopolitical map The chip industry's geographic concentration creates national security vulnerabilities the vault tracks: - **Taiwan:** [[TSMC]] — fabricates most of the world's advanced chips. The "silicon shield" thesis holds that China cannot invade Taiwan without destroying the chip supply the global economy depends on. - **South Korea:** [[SK Hynix]], [[Samsung]] — dominate memory manufacturing. Both navigate US-China export control pressures. - **Netherlands:** [[ASML]] — the EUV monopoly. The Dutch government is caught between alliance loyalty and protecting its most valuable company from ever-tighter US export restrictions. - **United States:** [[NVIDIA]], [[AMD]], [[Qualcomm]], [[Broadcom]] (design); [[Intel]], [[Micron]], [[GlobalFoundries]], [[Texas Instruments]] (manufacturing); [[Applied Materials]], [[Lam Research]], [[KLA Corporation]] (equipment). The [[CHIPS and Science Act]] represents the US attempt to reshore manufacturing capability. - **United Kingdom:** [[Arm Holdings]] — the CPU architecture licensor, majority-owned by Japan's [[SoftBank]]. ## Key policy intersections - [[Chip Export Controls]] — the restriction regime that uses ASML's monopoly and foundry concentration as leverage to deny China advanced chip manufacturing capability - [[CHIPS and Science Act]] — $52.7 billion in subsidies to incentivize domestic chip manufacturing, primarily benefiting Intel, TSMC (Arizona fab), and Samsung (Taylor, Texas fab) - [[Semiconductor Fabrication]] — the manufacturing process - [[Semiconductor]] — foundational terminology ## Coverage gaps No current coverage gaps in the core chip supply chain. Potential future additions: Huawei (China's national champion), SMIC (China's leading foundry), MediaTek (Taiwan-based fabless designer), Marvell Technology (custom silicon for data centers). ## See Also - [[ASML]] · [[Applied Materials]] · [[Lam Research]] · [[KLA Corporation]] — equipment - [[TSMC]] · [[Samsung]] · [[Intel]] · [[GlobalFoundries]] — foundries - [[NVIDIA]] · [[AMD]] · [[Qualcomm]] · [[Broadcom]] — fabless designers - [[Arm Holdings]] — IP licensing - [[Texas Instruments]] — analog/embedded (IDM) - [[SK Hynix]] · [[Samsung]] · [[Micron]] — memory - [[Chip Export Controls]] · [[CHIPS and Science Act]] - [[Semiconductor]] · [[Semiconductor Fabrication]] - [[Silicon Valley AI Ecosystem]] — the downstream industry these chips power - [[Defense Tech Ecosystem]] — where chip supply meets national security - [[AI Sector]] · [[Quantum Computing Sector]] · [[Commercial Space Sector]] · [[Biotech Sector]] · [[Cryptocurrency Sector]] · [[Carceral and Border Security Sector]] · [[Private Equity Sector]] · [[Energy Sector]] · [[Defense Primes Sector]] · [[Prediction Markets and Gambling Sector]] — sibling sector MOCs