Intel will produce processors with more than a trillion transistors in 10 years. At the IEDM 2022 event, the company published nine studies on future developments and plans. Specifically, it describes new 2D materials for transistors, a new 3D layout technology that will reduce the performance and power difference between chip and single-chip processors to an almost imperceptible range, and more. There is also information about Intel’s plans to launch processors containing more than a trillion transistors by 2030.

Intel is investing heavily in the new 3D packaging technology of semi-solid chips (Quasi-Monolithic Chips; QMC). As a result, QMC aims to offer almost the same features as the interconnects used in monoliths. QMC is said to be a new hybrid interconnect technology with less than 3 micron pitches that delivers a 10x increase in energy efficiency and performance density compared to Intel’s enhancements presented at last year’s IEDM. A 10 micron step approach was announced last year, and even that was already a 10x improvement over existing technologies. So Intel has managed to achieve a 100-fold improvement in energy efficiency and density in just a few years, at least on paper.

Interestingly, according to Intel’s plans, the rate of increase in transistor density in the near future will roughly correspond to Moore’s law. At the same time, the prices of semiconductor products will continue to rise.