Industry chains
A chain page answers one question per company: where does it sit on the industry chain, in the words of a public filing? One pilot chain is live; its seventeen-stage vocabulary is below.
The stage vocabulary
- Materials — Advanced materials and chemicals for semiconductor processes and substrates, including copper-clad laminate (CCL) and other PCB/substrate base materials.
- Equipment — Machines and systems used to manufacture, inspect, and test semiconductors.
- EDA & IP — Chip-design software and licensable design IP.
- Chip design (fabless) — Designs chips and outsources their manufacturing.
- IDM — Chip companies that design and manufacture their own products.
- Foundry — Manufactures wafers for other companies.
- Memory & storage — Makers of memory and storage components and devices.
- OSAT — Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test services.
- Components & modules — Discrete and passive components and optical and power modules.
- Substrates & PCB — IC package substrates, printed circuit boards, and leadframes that chips are mounted on and wired through. Package substrates such as ABF also feed the assembly and test stage — the chain is a directory, not a strict line.
- Thermal & cooling — Thermal management hardware for chips and systems — heat sinks, fans, heat pipes, vapor chambers, cold plates, and liquid-cooling modules and systems.
- Server power — Server and data-center power supply and power management — power supply units, power shelves, and power modules.
- Connectors & cabling — Electronic connectors, wire harnesses, cables, and interconnect modules.
- Chassis & rails — Server chassis, rack mechanical parts, and rail kits.
- EMS / ODM — Manufacturing services that build systems and modules for brand-name companies.
- Distribution — Authorized distribution of electronic components and solutions.
- Systems & cloud infrastructure — Branded systems, networking equipment, and cloud and AI infrastructure.