Intel could create a chip with one trillion transistors by 2030 says its CEO

Intel could create a chip with one trillion transistors by 2030 says its CEO،

Moore's Law is an observation first made by Fairchild Semiconductors and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore. The original version of Moore's Law, created in 1965, predicted that the number of transistors in a chip would double every year. In the 1970s, Moore was forced to revise his observation and modify it to say that the number of transistors would double every two years. Pat Gelsinger, Intel's current CEO, says the pace has slowed to the point where the number of transistors in a chip can be expected to double every three years.

The number of transistors on a chip is important because the larger it is, the more powerful and energy efficient the component can be. For example, the 2019 iPhone 11 series was powered by the 7nm A13 Bionic chipset that carried 8.5 billion transistors each. The 3nm A17 Pro SoC used in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max features 19 billion transistors inside each chipset and offers big improvements in performance and power consumption compared to the A13 Bionic.

By Tom's materialSpeaking at the Manufacturing@MIT symposium, Gelsinger proclaimed Moore's Law “alive and well” and noted that Intel could outpace Moore's Law through 2031. Intel is expected to take the lead in manufacturing processes. TSMC and Samsung Foundry with its A18 (1.8nm) process node in 2025 compared to the 2nm node that the other two foundries will use to build cutting-edge chips in the same year.

Gelsinger said during his speech: “I think we've been declaring the death of Moore's Law for about three to four decades. ” And while that may be true, he admitted that “we're no longer in the golden age of Moore's Law, it's much, much harder now, so we're probably effectively doubling closer every three years now, so we've we've definitely seen a slowdown. » Intel's CEO proposes a “Super Moore's Law” concept based on using 2.5D and 3D chip packaging to increase the number of transistors. Gelsinger also calls this “Moore’s Law 2.0.”

Gelsinger also said that by 2030, Intel could create a chip with a trillion transistors. Four things the CEO mentioned could make this happen, including RibbonFET transistors. Like the Gate-All-Around transistors currently used by Samsung Foundy with its 3nm production, with RibbonFET the gate covers all four sides of the channel, reducing current leakage and increasing drive current.

PowerVIA power delivery is the second thing that could lead to a chip with a trillion transistors. With this technique, power lines are placed at the back of a chip rather than at the front, improving power and performance. The third point concerns next-generation process nodes that will emerge over the next few years that will reduce the size of transistors, allowing more of them to be accommodated on a chip. 3D chip stacking is number four. This is when 16 or more integrated circuits are interconnected vertically to function as a single chip.

Gerlsinger also points out that the company's economic situation has recently changed. “Seven or eight years ago, a modern manufacturing plant would have cost about $10 billion,” he said. “Now it costs about $20 billion, so you’ve seen a different change in the economy.”