Moore's law

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Empirical observation

• Field

  Semiconductor physics, Computer engineering

• Discoverer

  Gordon Moore

• Core Principle

  The number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years with minimal cost increase.

• Term Coined By

  Carver Mead (1975)

• Associated Concepts

  Dennard scaling, More than Moore (MtM), Wirth's law

Timeline

• Gordon Moore publishes an article in Electronics Magazine predicting that the number of components on an integrated circuit would double every year for the next decade. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1965-04-19

• Gordon Moore revises his prediction to a doubling of transistors every two years, and Carver Mead coins the term 'Moore's Law'. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1975-01-01

• Dennard scaling ends, meaning physical transistor growth no longer yields proportional dividends in CPU performance. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2005-01-01

• Semiconductor advancement slows industry-wide below the pace predicted by Moore's law, leading to the 'More than Moore' (MtM) paradigm. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-01-01

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declares Moore's law dead, while Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger argues the opposite. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-09-01

Moore's law

Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years, with minimal increase in cost. Despite the name, Moore's law describes an empirical relationship, not a scientific law. This type of observation, the experience curve effect, quantifies efficiency gains from learned experience in production. The observation is named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and former Chief Executive Officer of the latter, who in 1965 noted that the number of components per integrated circuit had been doubling every year, and projected this rate of growth would continue for at least another decade. In 1975, looking forward to the next decade, he revised the forecast to doubling every two years, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41%. Moore's empirical evidence did not imply that the historical trend would continue; nevertheless, his prediction has held since 1975 and has since become known as a law. Moore's prediction has been used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development (R&D). Advancements in digital electronics, such as the reduction in quality-adjusted prices of microprocessors, the increase in memory capacity (RAM and flash), the improvement of sensors, and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras, are strongly linked to Moore's law. These ongoing changes in digital electronics have been a driving force of technological and social change, productivity, and economic growth. Industry experts have not reached a consensus on exactly when Moore's law will cease to apply. Microprocessor architects report that semiconductor advancement has slowed industry-wide since around 2010, slightly below the pace predicted by Moore's law. In September 2022, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang considered Moore's law dead, while Intel's then CEO Pat Gelsinger had the opposite view.

Web Search Results

• Moore’s Law and Its Practical Implications

  As the exponential increase in the density of transistors per square inch on a chip decelerates, some observers have proclaimed Moore’s Law demise. However, advances in chip packaging and design may allow a form of Moore’s Law to “survive” into the 2020s. In 1995, Moore himself admitted that “the definition of ‘Moore’s Law’ has broadened to refer to anything related to the semiconductor industry that, when plotted on semi-log paper, approximates a straight line.” A reconceptualization of Moore’s Law—sometimes dubbed “more than Moore” or MtM—prioritizes system complexity over chip density as a more accurate path for progress in computing technology and has extended the continued viability of Moore’s Law. [...] Q1: What is Moore’s Law? A1: While popularly referred to as a “law,” Moore’s Law is better understood as an empirical observation regarding advancements in computing. In a 1965 Electronics Magazine article, the cofounder of Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. and Intel, Gordon Moore, projected that the ideal number of transistors per square inch on a microchip would double each year while the manufacturing cost per component would halve. Ten years later, Moore revised his original projection and said chip density would, instead, double every two years for at least the next decade. [...] A3: Moore’s Law drives innovation-based competition within the semiconductor industry. With Moore’s Law setting the pace, semiconductor firms understand that they have a predictable timetable—roughly two years—for when they must conceive the next generation in functionality before their competitors almost inevitably will; they must either keep up or lose out. Annual roadmaps— set by the industry itself—enable firms to meet this pace of innovation.

• Moore’s Law, Part 1: Brief history of Moore's Law and current state

  Moore’s Law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who described the trend in his 1965 paper. In it, Moore noted that the number of components in integrated circuits had doubled every year from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 until 1965 and predicted that the trend would continue "for at least ten years". Moore’s prediction has proven to be uncannily accurate, in part because the law is now used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development. [...] For more than half a century these scaling trends continued, and sources in 2005 expected it to continue until at least 2015 or 2020. However, the 2010 update to the ITRS has growth slowing at the end of 2013, after which time transistor counts and densities are to double only every three years. Accordingly, since 2007 the ITRS has addressed the concept of functional diversification under the title “More than Moore” (MtM). This concept addresses an emerging category of devices that incorporate functionalities that do not necessarily scale according to “Moore's Law,” but provide additional value to the end customer in different ways. [...] Moore's Law is the observation that over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. The period often quoted as "18 months" is due to Intel executive David House, who predicted that period for a doubling in chip performance (being a combination of the effect of more transistors and their being faster). -Wikipedia

• Moore's law - Wikipedia

  _The great Moore's law compensator (TGMLC) –_ also known as Wirth's law, is the principle that successive generations of computer software increase in size and complexity (software bloat), thereby offsetting the performance gains predicted by Moore's law. In a 2008 article in InfoWorld, Randall C. Kennedy,( formerly of Intel, introduces this term using successive versions of Microsoft Office between the year 2000 and 2007 as his premise. Despite the gains in computational performance during this time period according to Moore's law, Office 2007 performed the same task at half the speed on a prototypical year 2007 computer as compared to Office 2000 on a year 2000 computer.( [...] Microprocessor architects report that since around 2010, semiconductor advancement has slowed industry-wide below the pace predicted by Moore's law.( Krzanich, the former CEO of Intel, cited Moore's 1975 revision as a precedent for the current deceleration, which results from technical challenges and is "a natural part of the history of Moore's law".( The rate of improvement in physical dimensions known as Dennard scaling also ended in the mid-2000s. As a result, much of the semiconductor industry has shifted its focus to the needs of major computing applications rather than semiconductor scaling.( Nevertheless, as of 2019, leading semiconductor manufacturers TSMC and Samsung Electronics claimed to keep pace with Moore's law( with 10, 7, and 5 nm nodes in mass production.( [...] The exponential processor transistor growth predicted by Moore does not always translate into exponentially greater practical CPU performance. Since around 2005–2007, Dennard scaling has ended, so even though Moore's law continued after that, it has not yielded proportional dividends in improved performance.( The primary reason cited for the breakdown is that at small sizes, current leakage poses greater challenges, and also causes the chip to heat up, which creates a threat of thermal runaway and therefore, further increases energy costs.(

• Press Kit: Moore’s Law - Newsroom

  In this article: Moore’s Law is the observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every two years with minimal rise in cost. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted a doubling of transistors every year for the next 10 years in his original paper published in 1965. Ten years later, in 1975, Moore revised this to doubling every two years. This extrapolation based on an emerging trend has been a guiding principle for the semiconductor industry for close to 60 years.

• What is Moore’s Law? | University of Law

  Moore’s Law was first described in 1965 by Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel, in an article for Electronics Magazine titled “The Future of Integrated Electronics”. In this article Moore outlined and predicted a doubling of components every year for the next ten years. In 1975 he reevaluated his observations, instead stating the doubling would occur every two years. As time passed Moore’s observations became a driving force for companies to push the limits of what was achievable and helped drive innovation. [...] #### blog # What is Moore’s Law? Print Facebook X Share Moore’s Law observes that the number of transistors in a microchip will double every two years and this concept is something computer science students will encounter throughout their studies. Below we explore Moore’s Law in more detail and ask if it’s still relevant today. Written by Grant Longstaff. Published 19 May 2025. ## What is Moore’s Law? Moore’s Law refers to the observation that the number of components on a chip doubles every two years. This growth means the power of computers and other devices continuously becomes faster at processing information, smaller in size and cheaper to manufacture. [...] It’s worth noting that although it is referred to as a law, Moore’s Law is actually based on empirical evidence and not a scientific law. It also wasn’t Moore himself who named the observation. Carver Mead, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, first used the name “Moore’s Law” in 1975. Something which Moore himself didn’t care for. ## Moore’s Law in practice Moore's Law has held true for decades. If you take Moore’s Law and apply it to computing, you can see how Moore’s observations were accurate and reflect developments throughout the tech industry.

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• Instance Of

  Q1398821

• Inception Date

  1/1/1975