Editing Moore's law (section)

{{Short description|Observation on the growth of integrated circuit capacity}}
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[[File:Moore's Law Transistor Count 1970-2020.png|thumb|upright=1.35|A [[semi-log plot]] of [[transistor count]]s for [[microprocessor]]s against dates of introduction, nearly doubling every two years |alt=refer to caption]]
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'''Moore's law''' is the observation that the number of [[transistor]]s in an [[integrated circuit]] (IC) doubles about every two years. Moore's law is an [[observation]] and [[Forecasting|projection]] of a historical trend. Rather than a [[law of physics]], it is an [[empirical relationship]]. It is an [[experience-curve law]], a type of law quantifying efficiency gains from experience in production.

The observation is named after [[Gordon Moore]], the co-founder of [[Fairchild Semiconductor]] and [[Intel]] and former CEO of the latter, who in 1965 noted that the number of components per integrated circuit had been [[exponential growth|doubling every year]],{{efn|The trend begins with the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. See the graph on the bottom of page&nbsp;3 of Moore's original presentation of the idea.<ref name="Moore 1965"/>}} 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 directly 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 [[Price index#Quality change|quality-adjusted prices]] of [[microprocessor]]s, the increase in [[Computer memory|memory capacity]] ([[RAM]] and [[flash memory|flash]]), the improvement of [[digital sensor|sensors]], and even the number and size of [[pixel]]s in [[digital camera]]s, 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,<ref name="nvidia" /> while Intel CEO [[Pat Gelsinger]] was of the opposite view.<ref name="intel" />