> As the size shrinks, less and less area and volume are available

Wait, are you sure?

Unclear. Sometimes a smaller size like 7nm is actually 10nm. To summarize 10 > 7 BUT 7 = 10.

> Cost, of course, is key because only a select group of foundry customers with deep pockets can afford 10nm and 7nm

Really? I wouldn't have known that only people with more money can spend more money

This is vastly overstated by the way. Maybe to design a de-novo X86 competitor chip. ARM's entire operating expenses in the last 12 months are about $700mm, for every single bit of their company. No way that a single 7nm chip costs $270mm for design.

Design is not the same as tape-out. ARM designs the logical structure of its chips (the VHDL or Verilog). They then license that design to customers (such as Apple, Samsung), who customise it.

The tape-out is completely separate from that. You need to do the physical layout and produce a set of lithographic masks that are incredibly expensive. Back in 2000, a set of masks for the most advanced technology at the time was already in the millions of dollars. Things have gotten ridiculously more complex since then.