Which is an implication of Moore’s Law? a. New processor chips will be twice as fast every 18 months. b. Intel will continue to dominate the processor field. c. You can increase the speed of computers by increasing the speed of electricity. d. Storage sizes will be 5 Tb next year.
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: a. New processor chips will be twice as fast every 18 months.
Explanation (300 words):
Moore’s Law is a prediction made by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, in 1965. He observed that the number of transistors that could be placed on a computer chip was doubling approximately every 18 to 24 months. Since the performance of processors is closely linked to the number of transistors, this doubling often translated into a doubling of computing power (or speed) every 18 months to 2 years.
Therefore, option A accurately reflects the implication of Moore’s Law: processor chips will be twice as fast every 18 months. This doesn’t necessarily mean only an increase in clock speed, but an overall improvement in performance, including factors like parallel processing, cache size, and power efficiency.
Option B is incorrect because Moore’s Law does not guarantee which company (like Intel) will dominate the industry. Dominance in the processor field depends on many market and technical factors, including innovation, strategy, and competition (e.g., AMD, ARM, Apple Silicon).
Option C is misleading. While increasing the speed of electricity might seem like it could boost computing performance, electrical speed (the speed of light in a medium) is already near physical limits in modern systems. Moore’s Law is about transistor density and not about altering the fundamental physics of electricity.
Option D relates to storage, not processors. Moore’s Law originally applied to the number of transistors on a chip, not storage capacity. Although storage has also increased dramatically over time, that growth is guided by different trends (such as Kryder’s Law for hard drives).
In conclusion, Option A is the best choice because it correctly reflects the central idea behind Moore’s Law — the exponential improvement in computer chip performance over time.