Semi Business is too good? Allocation, here we come!

The headline EETimes.com - TSMC puts customers on allocation certainly caught my eye and made me think of the good ol' days.

But reading the fine print, this is only for older geometries, i.e., 0.18 and 0.25 micron. Even though there ought to be lots of "second-tier" fabs with capacity, especially in China, the article explains that it's difficult to port mixed-signal design from one process to another. Once you go to production with a particular foundry on these types of "touchy" designs, you are in bed with that foundry for a long time!