When you turned the ignition in a
sports car in the 1970s, there were fewer
than 10 semiconductors in the vehicle.
It’s a single, powerful example of the ubiquity of silicon—the metalloid used to make the semiconductor chips that bring processing power to devices. These chips are not just clustered in data centers, computers and smartphones. Take a look around you, and almost every electronic device has at least one:
Smart fridges: This technology is cooler than it looks, and can contain multiple chips to control everything from internal cameras to Wi-Fi connectivity.
Electric toothbrushes: These humble oral hygiene tools typically contain at least one chip to control brushing modes.
Toys: Even a child’s talking teddy bear might contain a handful of chips, governing sound effects, movement and interactivity.
But in addition to all of life’s small luxuries, semiconductor chips are changing the trajectory of humanity in abundant ways.
They fine-tune the angle of solar panels to maximize energy absorption, they unlock secrets within the human body through advanced imaging, they orchestrate the ceaseless flow of the internet’s data, they monitor soil moisture to regulate life-giving irrigation and they fuel the rockets that pierce the veil of deep space.
The production of all of these chips, in turn, is shaping a new, evolving world economy in which technological breakthroughs simultaneously increase our collective prosperity. Intel calls it the siliconomy.
Today, an electric car
contains up to 7,000 of them.
Siliconomy: noun [sil•i•con•o•my]
1. The structure or conditions of life in a new era of global expansion where computing is foundational to a bigger opportunity and better future for every person on the planet.
2. An evolving economy enabled by the magic of silicon where semiconductors are essential to maintaining and enabling modern economies.