A Brief History of Moore’s Law

A Brief History of Moore’s Law
by Sam Beal on 10-11-2012 at 9:00 pm


I recently read a news article where the author referred to Moore’s Law as a ‘Law of Science discovered by an Intel engineer’. Readers of SemiWiki would call that Dilbertesque. Gordon Moore was Director of R&D at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1965 when he published his now-famous paper on integrated electronic
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The Generational Legacy of Steve Jobs

The Generational Legacy of Steve Jobs
by Ed McKernan on 08-16-2012 at 12:00 pm

Truly great leaders are recognized by the impact they leave several generations down the road. Roosevelt and Churchill are two historical figures who together saved Western Civilization, thus leaving a tremendous legacy even now, two generations later. In the semiconductor world we mark our generations in the two-year cadence… Read More


The Future of Lithography and the End of Moore’s Law!

The Future of Lithography and the End of Moore’s Law!
by Paul McLellan on 07-24-2012 at 10:35 pm

Thisblog with a chart showing that the cost of given functionality on a chip is no longer going to fall is, I think, one of the most-read I’ve ever written on Semiwiki. It is actually derived from data nVidia presented about TSMC, so at some level perhaps it is two alpha males circling each other preparing for a fight. Or, in this… Read More


The Scariest Graph I’ve Seen Recently

The Scariest Graph I’ve Seen Recently
by Paul McLellan on 07-01-2012 at 4:00 pm

Everyone knows Moore’s Law: the number of transistors on a chip doubles every couple of years. We can take the process roadmap for Intel, TSMC or GF and pretty much see what the densities we will get will be when 20/22nm, 14nm and 10nm arrive. Yes the numbers are on track.

But I have always pointed out that this is not what drives… Read More


The Midwestern Hedge Fund Manager

The Midwestern Hedge Fund Manager
by Ed McKernan on 05-22-2012 at 7:06 pm

Four years ago, a VC friend of mine was invited to a get together with a prominent Hedge Fund Manager from the Midwest. The meeting was an arrangement between fellow Harvard Grads. The Fund Manager was looking to make investments in the valley, to diversify away from his heavily weighted financial positions. Though, not recognized… Read More


Intel Tri-Gate is in Trouble?!?!?!

Intel Tri-Gate is in Trouble?!?!?!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-22-2012 at 6:00 pm

Since the last Intel logo parody went over so well here is another one! Not so much a parody in light of the recent PR from Intel that the fabless semiconductor business model is doomed. As one of the doomed little people inside the fabless ecosystem I take exception to this but I digress….

The word around Silicon Valley is that Intel … Read More


Keeping Moore’s Law Alive

Keeping Moore’s Law Alive
by Paul McLellan on 04-27-2012 at 12:37 pm

At the GSA silicon summit yesterday the first keynote was by Subramanian Iyer of IBM on Keeping Moore’s Law Alive. He started off by asking the question “Is Moore’s Law in trouble?” and answered with an equivocal “maybe.”

Like some of the other speakers during the day, he pointed out that … Read More


GSA Silicon Summit at the Computer History Museum!

GSA Silicon Summit at the Computer History Museum!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-04-2012 at 9:52 pm

The first GSA Silicon Summit will address the complexity, availability and time-to-market challenges that the industry must overcome to enable low power, cost effective solutions to keep pace with Moore’s Law. With never ending customer demand of better, faster and cheaper, semiconductor manufacturers must continually… Read More


21st Century Moore’s Law Providing Unforeseen Boost to Silicon Valley

21st Century Moore’s Law Providing Unforeseen Boost to Silicon Valley
by Ed McKernan on 01-30-2012 at 10:00 pm

It has been a great conundrum to many of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century trained economists and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government folks as to why a government led massive spending spree and Ben Bernanke’s non-stop printing presses can’t at least engender a mediocre economic recovery.

I blame 21st century Moore’s Law!

Today’s… Read More


America Heads Into a Generational Turn

America Heads Into a Generational Turn
by Ed McKernan on 12-30-2011 at 7:24 pm

America has received a gift whose consequence and magnitude is just now unfolding before our eyes. Taken to its limits, it may in the course of the next decade finally free us from many of our foreign entanglements while lifting the economic burdens from the working majority that has seen their wages stagnate for the past 40 years.… Read More