The Rise and Fall of Dark Silicon

Industry experts predict that transistor counts will continue to grow exponentially for at least another decade. Historically, we were able to harness all of these transistors to deliver exponential increases in computational power by capitalizing on both technological improvements and micro-architectural innovation. However, after decades of reaping Moore’s bounty, processors eventually hit a power wall. Technological limitations will soon prevent us from powering all transistors simultaneously, leaving a large fraction of the chip powered off (or dark). Short of a technological miracle, we head towards an era of “dark silicon,” able to build dense devices we cannot afford to power. Without the ability to use more transistors, or run them faster, performance improvements are likely to stagnate, unless we change course.