# Moore's Law **Domain:** Semiconductor Industry / Technological Scaling **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Moore's Law** names Gordon Moore's observation and projection that the number of components economically integrated on a chip would increase rapidly over time. Its formulation and cadence changed as the industry evolved. ## Evolutionary Nexus Moore's Law is not a physical law guaranteeing perpetual exponential growth. It became a coordinating expectation around which roadmaps, investment, design and competition organized. [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] interprets the curve as a selection environment for firms and engineering practice. The analogy is useful because organizations failing to track expected scaling lost position; it remains institutional because people collectively constructed and financed the trajectory. ## Continuity Context Scaling expanded the feasible substrate for machine intelligence, but each generation created compatibility, energy and obsolescence problems. Continuity depends on migration paths across hardware generations, not raw performance alone. ## Sources / Provenance - Gordon Moore, “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits,” _Electronics_, 1965. - Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley history: https://computerhistory.org/blog/silicon-valley-a-century-of-entrepreneurial-innovation/ ## See Also [[wiki/Semiconductor Fabrication|Semiconductor Fabrication]], [[wiki/Technical Obsolescence|Technical Obsolescence]], [[wiki/Substrate Transition|Substrate Transition]], [[wiki/Selection Gradient|Selection Gradient]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “First and foremost Moore's Law has allowed to perceive the development of the digital era as a linear narrative. The simple curve of progression is the digital equivalent of the ancient wheat and chessboard problem (with a potentially infinite chessboard). Like the Persian inventor of the game of chess who demanded from the king a geometric progression of grains all across the board, digital technology seems to develop exponentially. This model ignores the parallel nature of digital progress, which encompasses not only technological or economic development, but scientific, social and political change. Changes that can rarely be quantified.” > **— Andrian Kreye**, *2014, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT?”* [[reminders/Information/Moore's Law Cannot Explain Every Dimension of Digital Progress by Andrian Kreye|Moore's Law Cannot Explain Every Dimension of Digital Progress by Andrian Kreye]]