Moore's Law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware, in which the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years.[1]. Rather than being a naturally-occurring "law" that cannot be controlled, however, Moore's Law is effectively a business practice in which the advancement of transistor counts occurs at a fixed rate.[2] [see image]
The capabilities of many digital electronic devices are strongly linked to Moore's law: processing speed, memory capacity, sensors and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras.[3] All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well.[4] This has dramatically increased the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy.[5][6] Moore's law precisely describes a driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The trend has continued for more than half a century and is not expected to stop until 2015 or even later.[7]
The law is named for Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who introduced it in a 1965 paper.[8][9][10] It has since been used in the semiconductor industry to guide long term planning and to set targets for research and development.[11]
