Dude has it right.
"if they moved to the 0.13micron process, then it would reduce cost, not increase them. DUH!. "
Well this is kinda true, but remeber that it isn't just snapping your fingers to reduce die size. You always need new equipment. A state of the art photolitho stepper and track for a .13 micron process runs about $20Million (installed) and you need at least 10 of them for any production type fab. Then it is the cleanroom space. It will take a minium of 4 months to install and test out a stepper. But you need the cleanroom space (since modern cleanroom space runs upwards of 25K a square foot there isn't a lot wasted, so you often have to disable part of a line and remove old tools before you can install new ones). Then you have to design and qualifiy your new .13 micron photo, etch, etc processes). It isn't a cheap investment. It might upwards of half a billion dollars to pull off once tools, development, lost production, etc are figured in. That is why companies often have a 4 year plan to bring a single factory from .15 or .17 to .13. A that kind of investment might take years and years and year of the 'reduced cost' .13 parts to pay for the upgrade.
"if they moved to the 0.13micron process, then it would reduce cost, not increase them. DUH!. "
Well this is kinda true, but remeber that it isn't just snapping your fingers to reduce die size. You always need new equipment. A state of the art photolitho stepper and track for a .13 micron process runs about $20Million (installed) and you need at least 10 of them for any production type fab. Then it is the cleanroom space. It will take a minium of 4 months to install and test out a stepper. But you need the cleanroom space (since modern cleanroom space runs upwards of 25K a square foot there isn't a lot wasted, so you often have to disable part of a line and remove old tools before you can install new ones). Then you have to design and qualifiy your new .13 micron photo, etch, etc processes). It isn't a cheap investment. It might upwards of half a billion dollars to pull off once tools, development, lost production, etc are figured in. That is why companies often have a 4 year plan to bring a single factory from .15 or .17 to .13. A that kind of investment might take years and years and year of the 'reduced cost' .13 parts to pay for the upgrade.