If I were to bet on which fabs were able to get to the final process node for traditional silicon transistors, my money would probably be on Intel and TSMC, since they have the most volume on advanced processes and spend the most money on new fabs and process research. And TSMC is the biggest commodity fab.
The reason it becomes cheaper is that your development costs for both the process and the design get amortized over longer and longer periods. At the same time architecture becomes the only way that some chips can be faster than others.
Though I guess I should point out that progress in chip performance isn't the same as putting more transistors on a square millimeter. One aspect of this is that more economical silicon processes such as TSMC's are better at cramming more transistors into a square millimeter than Intel's, but Intel's transistors tend to have better drive current - all at a given process node. The other aspect is that ever increasing transistor leakage means that processors might get to an era when they can't afford to keep all their transistors lit up at the same time[1].
The reason it becomes cheaper is that your development costs for both the process and the design get amortized over longer and longer periods. At the same time architecture becomes the only way that some chips can be faster than others.
Though I guess I should point out that progress in chip performance isn't the same as putting more transistors on a square millimeter. One aspect of this is that more economical silicon processes such as TSMC's are better at cramming more transistors into a square millimeter than Intel's, but Intel's transistors tend to have better drive current - all at a given process node. The other aspect is that ever increasing transistor leakage means that processors might get to an era when they can't afford to keep all their transistors lit up at the same time[1].
[1]http://hopefullyintersting.blogspot.com/2012/02/dark-silicon...