Part I — The story
The story
Gordon Moore co-founded Intel and, in 1965, made the observation that became the defining prophecy of the digital age: that the number of transistors on a chip would roughly double every couple of years. 'Moore's Law' was less a law of physics than a self-fulfilling target the whole industry organised itself to hit — driving relentless, predictable improvement for decades.
A quiet, brilliant chemist, Moore co-founded Intel in 1968 with Robert Noyce and helped steer it from memory chips to the microprocessors that powered the personal-computer revolution. His pairing of technical depth with long-range vision made Intel the dominant chipmaker of its era.
Moore's Law reframed technology as a reliable exponential, letting engineers and companies plan around improvements not yet invented. It's a real-world lesson in compounding and in how a shared expectation can coordinate an entire industry.
Part II — The playbook
The playbook
Turn a trend into a target
Moore's observation became a goal the industry organised to meet, driving compounding progress.
Pair technical depth with vision
Moore combined deep expertise with long-range forecasting.
Bet on compounding improvement
Intel planned around gains not yet achieved, trusting the exponential.
In their words
If everything you try works, you aren't trying hard enough.
What can be done, can be outdone.
I never expected Moore's Law to become so precise.
What to read next
- Moore's Law — Thackray, Brock & Jones
- Chip War — Chris Miller
Why this matters
The thinking behind these decisions connects to models you can study directly:
Frequently asked questions
What is Moore's Law?
Gordon Moore's 1965 observation that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years — which became a target the whole industry organised itself to meet.
Was Moore's Law a law of nature?
No — it was an empirical trend that became self-fulfilling, as the industry coordinated around hitting it for decades.