FABulous

Today we attended a presentation at a company, PowerChip, in the local equivalent of Silicon Valley, a government-sponsored science park spanning a hundred square miles of San Jose-style suburbia.

Two engineers proudly showed us a fifteen-minute video about the company's latest and greatest achievement: the world's first 12-inch FAB. The video went on to describe the implications of the new FAB. The prospects of the new FAB. The superiority of the 12-inch FAB to the 8-inch FAB.

When it was done, I had only one question--which I think dismayed the engineers.

"Thank you," I said, "For sharing that with us. Your company seems very impressive and we're honored to be here. But I'm wondering--what is a FAB?"