Four Fabs of Its OwnNarrow moat

Analog Devices (ADI) — moat facet

ADI keeps its specialised analog processes in four fabs of its own, in Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon and Ireland, which a rival must match to match the parts.

The half of manufacturing ADI keeps is the half that is hardest to copy. Its IC products "are fabricated on proprietary processes at our internal production facilities in Wilmington, Massachusetts; Camas, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Limerick, Ireland"1. Limerick covers 708,500 square feet and Beaverton, which came with Maxim, 458,0002.

Largest Analog Devices sites (thousand sq ft)Limerick, Ireland708.5Penang, Malaysia (sold 2026)697.0Beaverton, Oregon458.0Analog Devices Form 10-K FY2025, properties; Penang sale from Form 10-Q Q3 FY2026
Limerick is the biggest of the three sites shown.

Owning these fabs is what separates ADI from a company that designs chips and has others make them. Analog performance depends on the process as much as the circuit: a precision amplifier or a data converter is tuned to the transistors it runs on. A proprietary process cannot be bought from a foundry, and a rival that wants to match the part has to match the process too.

The plant is concentrated in the United States and Ireland. Net property, plant and equipment was $1,832.6 million in the United States and $651.3 million in Ireland at the end of fiscal 20253. The government has helped pay for the American part: under the CHIPS Act, ADI recorded $96.3 million and $167.2 million of credits against the carrying value of qualifying manufacturing assets4.

The list of fabs has changed. The fiscal 2019 10-K named Milpitas, California, from Linear, instead of Beaverton5. Sites come and go as the company consolidates what it has bought.

Fabs carry fixed costs, which is why the margin fell hard in fiscal 2024, argued on the danger below. The claim here is that the proprietary processes are an advantage. It would weaken if ADI moved its specialised analog processes to foundries as well; the sign would be the 10-K dropping another internal fab from the list without a replacement.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Four internal fabs in FY2025; Milpitas replaced by Beaverton since FY2019.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Net property, plant and equipment, latest quarter
$3,352.0M (1 August 2026), from $3,315.7M at FY2025 end

The size of the plant ADI keeps; a sharp fall would mean more of the specialised work is moving to outside suppliers.

Source: Analog Devices Q3 FY2026 results release ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
Idle Fabs in a Downturn
ADI's gross profit fell 32% in fiscal 2024 on a 23% revenue fall, the cost of owning fabs that do not shrink when orders do.
References
  1. ReportedIts IC products "are fabricated on proprietary processes at our internal production facilities in Wilmington, Massachusetts; Camas, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Limerick, Ireland".
    Analog Devices Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 1 November 2025) - manufacturing, wafer sourcing, fabs and properties. — FY2025 · publ. 25 November 2025 · source ↗
  2. ReportedLimerick covers 708,500 square feet and Beaverton, which came with Maxim, 458,000.
    Analog Devices Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 1 November 2025) - goodwill, intangible assets and their amortisation schedule, and the single reporting unit. — FY2025 · publ. 25 November 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedNet property, plant and equipment was $1,832.6 million in the United States and $651.3 million in Ireland at the end of fiscal 2025.
    Analog Devices Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 1 November 2025) - revenue by end market, sales channel and geography, and significant distributors. — FY2025 · publ. 25 November 2025 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThe government has helped pay for the American part: under the CHIPS Act, ADI recorded $96.3 million and $167.2 million of credits against the carrying value of qualifying manufacturing assets.
    Analog Devices Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 1 November 2025) - Item 1A risk factors: foundries, Taiwan, distributors, trade, state-backed competitors and variable consideration. — FY2025 · publ. 25 November 2025 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe fiscal 2019 10-K named Milpitas, California, from Linear, instead of Beaverton.
    Analog Devices Form 10-K for fiscal 2019 (year ended 2 November 2019) - the Linear acquisition, five-year selected data for 2015-2019, Arrow, Macnica and Apple concentration, named competitors and fabs. — FY2019 · publ. November 2019 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 29, 2026