IBM's Transistor Data Revealed

Atryn writes "After last week's story — Intel and IBM both announcing breakthroughs in chip design enabling continued adherence to Moore's Law — many folks wondered how and why the two companies' announcements came out simultaneously. The Register explains it, and as a bonus they are releasing a leaked copy of IBM's future research documentation (PDF)."

Summary...

[Otter]

IBM got wind of Intel's announcement and rushed out their own. The end.

I was skeptical that there really were people who saw them and wondered "Wow, engineers in both companies made these discoveries today?", but a look at the Slashdot story shows the first comment (in my display, anyway) asking "Two breakthroughs in one day?" (Score:5, Insightful)

Why Adhere?

[camperdave]

... enabling continued adherence to Moore's Law

I don't understand why you would want to adhere to Moore's law. If I were able to make chips 10 times denser, why would I not market that right away rather than waiting for 3-5 years needed to follow the law.

Re:Why Adhere?

[camperdave]

Moore's law is not a law of the universe. It is merely an average rate of development of an industry. It's like saying cars are 2% more fuel efficient each consecutive year. It wouldn't break any law of the universe to suddenly release an SUV that was 10% more fuel efficient than last year's model.