In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore saw the future. His prediction, popularly known as Moore's Law, states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years. This observation about silicon integration, made a reality by Intel, has fueled the worldwide technology revolution.

Our world-leading silicon technologies have supported the development and worldwide adoption of our industry-standard architectures and platforms, making Intel the world’s largest silicon supplier. The best is yet to come. Our R&D investment and silicon expertise support unique Intel breakthroughs that will enable us to drive Moore’s Law well into the future and deliver more exciting capabilities into our technologies.

Intel's unparalleled silicon expertise gives us an edge on the competition in developing leading architectures and platforms that will continue fueling economic growth and improving the lives of billions of people throughout the world.

Many are familiar with Intel's exponential increases in the number of transistors integrated into our processors and other leading platform ingredients. These increases, as the following graph illustrates, have steadily and reliably lead to more computing performance as measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS).

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Moore’s Law Means More Performance. Processing power, measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS), has risen because of increased transistor counts.

But Moore's Law also means decreasing costs. As silicon-based components and platform ingredients gain in performance, they become exponentially cheaper to produce, and therefore more plentiful, more powerful, and more seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. Today's microprocessors run everything from toys to traffic lights. A musical birthday card costing a few U.S. dollars today has more computing power than the fastest mainframes of a few decades ago.

Key Intel silicon technologies are driving the reality of Moore's Law into the future:

• 65 nanometer (nm) logic technology. Intel's 65nm-generation logic technology helps improve performance and reduce power.
• Sleep transistors. Sleep transistors conserve power by allowing transistors to sleep when not in use, similar to the human brain.
• Second-generation strained silicon. Intel strained silicon enables faster transistors by physically stretching the lattice structure of silicon atoms, allowing electrons to flow faster with less resistance.

Intel also enjoys unrivaled expertise and leadership in the area of high-volume manufacturing:

• Manufacturing capacity. Intel's massive chip manufacturing capacity is unparalleled and enables development of standards-based, low-cost devices to customers around the world.
• Automation. Intel is the world leader in using automation [PDF] for silicon manufacturing that enables global customers to get the most reliable products at increasingly affordable prices.
• Test technology. Intel's rigorous testing processes and technologies ensure near-zero defects in our products, and are so advanced that they are being applied to life sciences for disease detection at the molecular level.

Intel's realization of Moore's Law is more than leading-edge technology and unmatched manufacturing prowess – it is about the people who use the end results of those advancements, the people who find parts of their lives enhanced by technology. Consider:

• Families and friends who connect in an instant, sharing photos, playing games and trading advice, all while overcoming great distances and time differences.
• Doctors who access the Internet in the examining room, verifying the latest updates on chemical reactions, alternatives, and availability of your elder parents' prescriptions.
• On-the-go parents who can carry games and other digital entertainment for their younger children on sleek, light and portable devices that also allow them to call their older, free-spirited teenagers to check on their well-being.
• Entrepreneurs who launch new business models, ultimately enabling new market segments, companies, products and services, and employment sectors to grow.

Underlying and enabling all these experiences – capabilities that 40 years ago were science fiction at best – are Intel's advancements in silicon, processors and platforms.

Explore the links below. Learn not only about Moore's Law and Intel's proud history, but also about where Intel is taking the world next. Delve into the research and advanced development work of world-class scientists, technologists, and visionaries – all committed to making the world a better place.

Brochures

• Intel Silicon Innovation: Fueling New Solutions for the Digital Planet [PDF 909KB]
• Designing for Power [PDF 432KB]
• Technology and Research at Intel – Architectural Innovation for the Future [PDF 597KB]

Gordon Moore-authored Documents

• Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuits
  [PDF 167KB] Gordon E. Moore, Electronics, April 19, 1965
• No Exponential is Forever...but We Can Delay 'Forever' [PDF 2MB]
  Gordon E. Moore, presentation at International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), February 10, 2003

Articles

• Moore Optimistic on Moore's Law
• Gordon E. Moore Biography

Video, Flash* Demo, and Poster

• Video Interview with Gordon Moore on Moore's Law [WMV 16.8MB]
• Moore's Law Flash* animation [Need Flash? Download it here*.]
• Moore's Law Poster [PDF 7MB]

Related Intel Sites

• Intel Silicon Technologies
• Platform 2015
• Architectural Innovation
• Era of Tera