MOORE'S LAW

What Is Moore's Law?

"The number of transistors incorporated in a chip will approximately double every 24 months."
—Gordon Moore, Intel Co-Founder

This forecast of the pace of silicon technology, popularly known as Moore's Law, was more than just a prediction. Essentially, it described the basic business model for the semiconductor industry.

For more than four decades, Intel has delivered the challenge of Moore's Law: to double the transistor density, while increasing functionality and performance and decreasing costs. However, a fundamental barrier is emerging—technology is approaching atomic dimensions. Intel is already working on technologies to overcome this.

Continuing Moore's Law means the rate of progress in the semiconductor industry will far surpass that of nearly all other industries. The future of Moore's Law could deliver a magnitude of exponential capability increases, driving a fundamental shift in computing, networking, storage, and communication devices to meet the ever-growing digital content and Intel's vision of 15 billion intelligent, connected devices.

"Another decade is probably straightforward...There is certainly no end to creativity."
—Gordon Moore, Intel Chairman Emeritus of the Board speaking of extending Moore's Law at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), February 2003.