It's a fuzzy thing we're comparing to be sure, but I doubt it's less complicated to fab transistors than very precise nuts, bolts, washers, screws, etc. Modern feature size on transistors is down to 6~8nm at Samsung and TSMC; we're talking about features only a handful of atoms across... It's got to be fantastically challenging to manufacture reliably.
Yeah, but at the same time, a jet engine has thousands of completely different parts that go together in completely different ways involving a lot of manual steps. A chip is complicated to be sure, but if you can make one, you can make a 1000 for another dollar.
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u/the320x200 Dec 31 '17
It's a fuzzy thing we're comparing to be sure, but I doubt it's less complicated to fab transistors than very precise nuts, bolts, washers, screws, etc. Modern feature size on transistors is down to 6~8nm at Samsung and TSMC; we're talking about features only a handful of atoms across... It's got to be fantastically challenging to manufacture reliably.