One assumption that engineers have been able to make for most of the past few decades has been Dennard scaling; that making transistors smaller means they also use proportionally less energy. This assumption however stopped being true around 2005, and modern chips now include increasingly large amounts of “dark silicon” - circuitry used only sparingly to keep power budgets under control and prevent chips from overheating.
Moore's Wall
Moore's Wall
Moore's Wall
One assumption that engineers have been able to make for most of the past few decades has been Dennard scaling; that making transistors smaller means they also use proportionally less energy. This assumption however stopped being true around 2005, and modern chips now include increasingly large amounts of “dark silicon” - circuitry used only sparingly to keep power budgets under control and prevent chips from overheating.