Moore's Law still relevant, argues Intel

Moore's Law still has relevance even if it is slowing down, according to Intel, the company which first coined the phrase.

The observation that the amount of information which can be stored on a given amount of silicon roughly doubles every year, although it slowed to every 18 months in the late 1970s, was first suggested in 1964 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore.

But according to some critics of the concept, the law has now slipped to doubling every two years, and some even doubt its significance.

"It's not quite so relevant in so many ways," argued Clive Longbottom of analyst group Quocirca. "Does the desktop user need to see a doubling of power in such a period of time?"

He accepted that the concept is still important to the server market, but explained that other bottlenecks, such as bandwidth provision, inhibit the level of incremental value provided by Moore's Law.

Intel spokesman Bill Riley described the law as a "rallying cry" to developers and said that it should not be seen as a literal goal.

"Everyone thought that Moore's Law would stop at one micron, but it's still going. It's still a relevant concept," he insisted.