A manufacturing plant that makes semiconductor devices. As of 2005, the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales and ranked starting with the largest were Intel, Samsung, Renesas (Hitachi-Mitsubishi merger), Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NEC, Freescale and Philips.

Be the First on Your Block
You too can be a chip maker. All it takes is $3 billion to build a state-of-the-art facility. By 2010, a fab is expected to cost $5 billion.