Meaning:
“晶圆” refers to “silicon wafer” (a thin slice of crystal semiconductor which is circular in shape), and “厂” means “factory.” The silicon wafer is a material used for producing semiconductors, which can be found in all types of electronic devices. Its massive utilization in northern Californian high-tech industries gave rise to the name “Silicon Valley.” There are three types of companies in the semiconductor industry: “fabless chip makers” that design and sell the hardware and semiconductor chips but do not manufacture the silicon wafers, “foundries” that manufacture the silicon wafers (equivalent to the Chinese term we are using here), and “Integrated Device Manufacturers” (IDM) that do both, such as Samsung. The inflow of hot money into this sector drove the term into China’s public lexicon last year.
Example:
A: 去年你投资股票赚钱了吗？
Qùnián nǐ tóuzī gǔpiào zhuànqián le ma？
Did you make money from your stock investment last year?
B: 买了一家晶圆厂的股票，赚钱了。
Mǎi le yījiā jīngyuán chǎng de gǔpiào，zhuànqián le。
I bought shares of a foundry stock and made some money.