Moore’s Law starts a new chapter – yet again

They’re all the rage right now in the semiconductor industry: chiplets. Instead of carving a, say, new processor from a single slab of silicon, chipmakers assemble it from different smaller pieces, which are then connected (see inset “What are chiplets?”). You won’t have to look very hard to find claims that this approach is going to get Moore’s Law back on track.

So will it? Yes and no. It depends on what you think Moore’s Law is. In any case, the rise of chiplet technology is clear evidence that a new approach is necessary to make the next generation of chips worthwhile to design, manufacture or buy.