They dont really.
There are some designs that are required to protect from EM and ESD, but you cant get 100 % confidence in protection, so after that comes tests on prototypes. Even that cant give a 100% answer, because you end up testing one prototype chip, and the manufacturing process is different, meaning you also have to test chips once you start producing them with a different method.
This is why critical systems that must not fail have multiple redundancies. A critical system needs to be able to work when crippled. It does not means its parts should never break down; it means it is engineered to have the least possible failures, but if and when they happen, it still works as a whole.
Typically, modern CPU can have defects when built, so they can be partially disabled. That 12 cores CPU with a defect on 2 cores will have them disabled and will be sold as a 10 cores CPU.
Latest Answers