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Computer companies are making smaller, faster computer chips. Those companies are spending billions of dollars in research and development to make the smallest, most powerful chip possible. As new chip iterations come out the older technology becomes obsolete. “Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, observed in 1965 that the number of components being squeezed onto a chip had doubled every year since 1959. He predicted it would keep doing so until at least 1975.”(Allen, I.ChipPower) His prediction was known as Moore’s Law. The interpretation of Moore’s Law stated, “the number of transistors in a chip will double every 18 to 24 months”(Anthes, G.Computer…Soar). This means that the speeds of microprocessors will double every 18 to 24 months. Support for that chip will continue a short while longer, but will be abandoned altogether in 5 years. For example, computers with the Pentium II or Pentium III chip are being sold between $200 and $300 dollars today when 3 or 4 years ago they where sold for around $2,000 dollars.

ng forced to upgrade to more advanced chips which run more powerful computers. Workers are being trained on more powerful computers and expect to use even more powerful computers in another 2 years. Computer technicians are forced to upgrade their skills every 2 to 3 years. A badge of honor for a technician is for him/her to say they are working with the newest technology. The skills of older chip technicians are not valued as highly and are not in great demand.

The reason for companies spending so much money is for the research and development for that new chip. Companies want to produce chips, which are as powerful as the human brain and as small as an atom. They want to produce a chip that has AI, artificial intelligence, and the power to learn. An implication is that all scientific knowledge can be programmed onto a chip making doctors, and possibly teachers, obsolete. A chip that is so small it could be injected into the body as a probe, could potentially replace doctors with medical technicians. “The chip would travel throughout the body looking for problem areas and alert the technicians of that problem.”(Princeton, Discoverey…Chips) It could also be used to repair damaged areas from the inside out. Those same companies are trying to make computers work independent

Some topics in this essay:
Sun Microsystems, Solution Businesses, Pentium III, Moore’s Law, , Word Count, powerful computers, companies spending, moore’s law, double 18 24, double 18, 18 24, research development, onto chip, forced upgrade, computers 2, spending money,