Process node
The generation label for a semiconductor manufacturing process, and a marketing name rather than a physical measurement.
A process node is the name a foundry gives to a generation of its manufacturing process. The numbers attached to them stopped corresponding to any physical dimension on the chip years ago; what a node name actually denotes is a bundle of transistor architecture, interconnect pitch, design rules and the equipment set needed to run them. Two foundries advertising the same number are not offering the same thing, and comparing them requires transistor density and power figures rather than the label.
For supply purposes the node matters because capacity is not fungible across nodes. A leading-edge line cannot absorb trailing-edge demand or the reverse without a requalification cycle measured in quarters, and the tool set for the newest node - principally EUV lithography - is available from a very small number of suppliers on multi-year lead times.
This is why an accurate picture of compute supply is held per line and per site rather than as an industry total. A capacity number without a node, a location and a committed customer attached is not something a build schedule can be planned against, which is the reasoning behind holding it as a resolved entity in the Console.
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