cost per wafer

Cost per wafer is the **total manufacturing cost** to process one wafer through all fabrication steps. It's the fundamental unit economics metric for semiconductor manufacturing. **Typical Cost Per Wafer (300mm)** • **Mature nodes (28nm+)**: $2,000-4,000 per wafer • **Advanced nodes (7-10nm)**: $8,000-12,000 per wafer • **Leading edge (3-5nm)**: $15,000-20,000+ per wafer • **2nm (projected)**: $25,000-30,000 per wafer **Cost Components** **Materials** (15-25%): Silicon wafers, chemicals, gases, slurries, photoresists, targets. **Depreciation** (30-40%): Equipment amortization—a single EUV scanner costs $350M and lasts ~10 years. **Labor** (10-15%): Engineers, technicians, operators (highly automated fabs need fewer people). **Utilities** (5-10%): Electricity (50-100MW per fab), ultra-pure water, cleanroom HVAC. **Overhead** (10-20%): Facility maintenance, IT, management, quality systems. **Why Cost Increases at Advanced Nodes** More **process steps** (500 at 28nm → 1000+ at 3nm). More **EUV layers** ($350M per scanner, 10-20+ EUV layers). More **mask layers** (60-80 masks, $5-10M per mask set). Lower **yields** during ramp (fewer good dies per wafer). Higher **fab construction cost** ($20B+ for a leading-edge fab). **Cost Per Die** What really matters is **cost per good die** = cost per wafer / (die per wafer × die yield). Even though advanced-node wafers cost more, the smaller die size and higher transistor density can reduce **cost per transistor**.