Moore's law
Moore's law
Moore's law is an observation and projection made by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, in 1965. It states that the number of transistors on a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. While originally formulated as a trend for semiconductor technology, it has become a guiding principle for the entire microprocessor industry, driving exponential improvements in computing power and cost reduction.
The observation was first articulated in a 1965 article in Electronics magazine, where Moore noted that from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the component count per chip had doubled annually. He predicted this would continue for at least ten years. In 1975, he revised the doubling period to two years—a forecast that held remarkably well for several decades.
History
The practical implications of Moore's law shaped the evolution of the personal computer, smartphone, and countless digital devices. The semiconductor industry used it as a de facto roadmap for research and development, investing heavily to sustain the pace. However, by the 2010s, physical limits—such as quantum tunneling and heat dissipation—began to slow the rate of miniaturization. While some argue that Moore's law has ended, others note that gains in chip performance now come from architectural changes, multi-core processors, and specialised accelerators rather than raw transistor density.
Despite the slowdown, the economic effects of Moore's law—exponentially falling cost per transistor—continue to influence fields like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. The original observation remains one of the most famous forecasting statements in the history of technology.