Published On: November 29, 2025

Nano Banana The Shifting Foundations Of Semiconductor Productivity Productivity in semiconductors was once anchored in a predictable formula in which each new node delivered higher transistor density, better performance per watt, and stable cost per transistor. That engine is weakening. Design complexity has surged, stretching development cycles from roughly 6-12 months to 12-24 months or more for leading-edge SoCs, driven by more than 1.5 billion verification cycles and verification workloads that account for 55 percent of total effort. Manufacturing is under similar strain, as EUV tools consume nearly 1 megawatt per scanner, require over 50% uptime for economic breakeven, and demand more than planned service interventions per year. Costs per reticle, mask, and process layer continue to rise, breaking the traditional assumption that fabs scale efficiently through […]