(input/output), and memory functions, often with varying circuit architectures between the chiplets. Some users with specialized processing needs will access devices such as Google’s TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) application-specific chips that are designed for machine learning functions operating in the cloud. In fact, much of the intensive processing now handled at the chip level can be accomplished by massive cloud-based servers for connected devices in the future.29
Moore’s law will endure in a new form long after many pundits had predicted its demise, but the intricacy of the new three-dimensional (3-D), multi-function, super-processors of the future will take longer to develop and test. There is a related “law” at work here – Rock’s law, which states that the cost of chip fabrication (fab) plant doubles every four years, due to the complexity of making these new chipsets.30 The time frame between generation of new chips will stretch from every two years to three or more. The emerging design challenge for computer scientists and engineers is creating devices, operating systems, and programs that can utilize the immense processing power of these powerful chips. As these design and programming challenges are solved, the fundamental components of the mobile phone/digital camera/music player, notebook computers, and the widescreen home digital display will have greatly enhanced digital processing power. In the digital universe of the networked Internet of Things, we will see powerful chips embedded in every conceivable electronic product, as well as cars, homes, offices, and perhaps in ourselves to monitor our daily health.
Notes
1 1. Bright, P. (2016, February 10). Moore’s law really is dead this time. ArsTechnica.com. Retrieved from, https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/moores-law-really-is-dead-this-time.
2 2. This was Twain’s response in a letter to an inquiry from a reporter on May 31, 1897. It has often been misquoted online as “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.
3 3. Intel Corporation (2005). Moore’s Law press kit. Retrieved from, http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/events/moores_Law_40th/index.htm?iid=tech_mooresLaw+body_presskit.
4 4. Kanellos, M. (2005, March 9). Moore says that nanoelectronics face tough challenges. Cnet News. Retrieved from, http://news.cnet.com/Moore-says-nanoelectronics-face-tough-challenges/2100-1006_3-5607422.html.
5 5. Intel Corporation. (2021). Moore’s law: Raising the bar. Retrieved from, https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/history/museum-gordon-moore-law.html.
6 6. Kurzweil, R. (2009). The age of spiritual machines: When computers exceed human intelligence. New York: Penguin.
7 7. Dr Yale Patt. Personal communication, April 17, 2007.
8 8. Diagram retrieved from, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moore%27s_Law_Transistor_Count_1970-2020.png.
9 9. Moore, G. E. (1965, April 19). Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Electronics, 38(8). Retrieved from, https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/03/102770822-05-01-acc.pdf.
10 10. Moore, G. E. (1975). Progress in digital integrated electronics. Technical Digest. Proceedings from the 1975 International Electron Devices Meeting of the IEEE, pp. 11–13. Retrieved from, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4804410.
11 11. Kanellos, M., Op. cit.
12 12. Hruska, J. (2019, July 11). Is Moore’s law alive, dead, or pining for the fjords? Even the experts disagree. ExtremeTech.com. Retrieved from, https://www.extremetech.com/computing/294805-is-moores-law-alive-dead-or-pining-for-the-fjords-even-experts-disagree.
13 13. Martindale, J. (2020, January 16). Here’s why a 5nm iPhone A14 chip would be such a big deal. Digital Trends.com. Retrieved from, https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/5nm-iphones-herald-super-faster.
14 14. Internet World Stats. Retrieved from, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm.
15 15. Friedman, Thomas E. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the 21st century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 374.
16 16. Ibid.
17 17. MP3 is an acronym for the MPEG-1 audio layer 3 compression scheme used to shrink music files by 90 percent.
18 18. Macmillan, D. (2009, March 3). The music industry’s new internet problem. Business Week.
19 19. McIntyre, H. (2019, April 2). The global music industry hit $19 billion in sales in 2018, rising by almost 10%. Forbes.com. Retrieved from, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/04/02/the-global-music-industry-hits-19-billion-in-sales-in-2018-jumping-by-almost-10/#20b7eb8318a9.
20 20. Pinch, T. J., & Bijker, W. E. (1984, August). The social construction of facts and artefacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Social Studies of Science, 14, pp. 399–441.
