There's plenty of room at the Top: What will drive computer performance after Moore's law?

Where it appeared

Published inScience
PublisherAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume368
Issue6495

Identifiers

DOI10.1126/science.aam9744
OpenAlexW3033308515

Abstract

The miniaturization of semiconductor transistors has driven the growth in computer performance for more than 50 years. As miniaturization approaches its limits, bringing an end to Moore's law, performance gains will need to come from software, algorithms, and hardware. We refer to these technologies as the "Top" of the computing stack to distinguish them from the traditional technologies at the "Bottom": semiconductor physics and silicon-fabrication technology. In the post-Moore era, the Top will provide substantial performance gains, but these gains will be opportunistic, uneven, and sporadic, and they will suffer from the law of diminishing returns. Big system components offer a promising context for tackling the challenges of working at the Top.

How it got here

How it got hereagent via unpaywall
Added2026-08-23 00:00 UTC
Approved bya person 2026-08-24 07:32 UTC

Cite it as

@article{leiserson2020theres,
  title        = {There's plenty of room at the Top: What will drive computer performance after Moore's law?},
  author       = {Charles E. Leiserson and Neil C. Thompson and Joel S. Emer and Bradley C. Kuszmaul and Butler W. Lampson and Daniel Sanchez and Tao B. Schardl},
  year         = {2020},
  journal      = {Science},
  volume       = {368},
  number       = {6495},
  publisher    = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)},
  doi          = {10.1126/science.aam9744},
}

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