[random_duck]

More thank light bulbs. As you have correctly pointed it out, its a matter of economics: 180nm is CHEAP! So a lot more things become economically viable, think of all the weird specialized ASICs that used to be to expensive to build.

[lesser-shadow]

Not only that, but 180nm/130nm is the only option that is OpenSourced, as of now. Transistor Libraries for ICs (or, PDKs) have long been proprietary. I'm only aware of IHP and Sky130, which are actually banking on Fossi or Libre Silicon design.