A semiconductor fabrication plant, or fab, is a highly controlled factory that makes chips on silicon wafers. It combines precision machinery, cleanroom operations, chemicals, gases, and industrial control systems to build and test circuits at nanometer scale. Because production is so complex, fabs depend on tightly managed software, sensors, equipment vendors, and supply chains.
In cyber security, fabs matter because they hold valuable intellectual property and can suffer major disruption if process equipment, manufacturing data, or OT networks are tampered with. Attackers may seek design files, recipe data, or access to production systems for espionage, extortion, or sabotage. Defenders protect fabs with network segmentation, strict identity controls, monitoring of industrial protocols, and resilient backup and recovery plans. A compromised fab can delay shipments, reduce output, and expose strategic manufacturing capacity.