Moore's law

thumb|upright=1.6|A [[semi-log plot of transistor counts for microprocessors against dates of introduction, nearly doubling every two years |alt=refer to caption]]

Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years, with minimal increase in cost. Despite the name, Moore's law describes an empirical relationship, not a scientific law. This type of observation, the experience curve effect, quantifies efficiency gains from learned experience in production.

The observation is named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel and former Chief Executive Officer of the latter, who in 1965 noted that the number of components per integrated circuit had been doubling every year,