In the semiconductor industry, Moore's law proposed by Intel co-founder gordonmoore in 1965 is recognized as the golden rule. The idea of doubling transistors every two years guides the development of semiconductor chips. Although some people think it is outdated in recent decades, it is actually well implemented.
The Belgian Microelectronics Center IMEC released a very interesting road map, comparing the changes in transistor density of processor chips in the 52 years from 1970 to 2022. The level in that year was only 1000 transistors. It should be noted that when Intel launched the first microprocessor 4004 in 1971, there were only 2300 transistors.
Now by 2022, the scale of transistors has reached 100billion, Apple The M1 ultra chip has achieved 114billion transistors, 100million times that of 52 years ago
The 100billion transistor chip will not be the end point. In fact, apple M1 ultra is not the only 100billion chip monster. Intel's acceleration card Ponte Vecchio has also realized 100billion + transistors. However, Ponte Vecchio is composed of multiple chips. M1 ultra is not a single chip, but also composed of two M1 Max chips.
In the future, intel and other companies have more ambitious goals. By 2030, they will achieve the creation of 1trillion transistors, which will be achieved through various technologies such as advanced process ribbonfet, high NA EUV lithography, and FoxOs 3D packaging. It is 10 times the scale of existing chips. The challenge is also very big. Let's wait and see.
