Chip performance could increase for 15 years-WSJ
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Computer-chip makers should be able to keep boosting chip performance for at least 15 years despite some serious technical hurdles, the industry's trade group said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Semiconductor Industry Association said chip makers may face problems within five years in maintaining improvements at current rates, the paper said.
But the group has identified enough possible solutions to those bottlenecks to predict that the industry will continue to produce chips that will double in performance every 18 months as it has in the past, the Journal said.
Memory chips will consist of 64 billion transistors by the year 2014, 1,000 times the 64 million today for standard memory chips in personal computers, said Paolo Gargini, technology strategist at Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, according to the paper.
He also said that microprocessors will reach speeds of 3.6 gigahertz, or 3,600 megahertz, compared with today's typical speeds of 500 to 733 megahertz, the Journal reported.
06:22 11-23-99
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