Silicon’s Five Superpowers
Central processing units are a type of chip used for general computing and act as the “brains” of devices, ranging from laptops and smartphones to cars and medical devices.
There is a pervasive presence of computing power in our daily lives, and we need innovation to keep up with demand. In an Intel-commissioned study of industry leaders, 64% say today’s compute power is not as high as they need it to be.
Compute
“When we talk about semiconductor growth, we talk about it becoming a trillion-dollar market by the end of the decade,” Pontarelli says.
It’s hard to overstate the more far-reaching benefits—almost every aspect of human advancement will involve semiconductors in some form.
An Unrecognizable Future
Pontarelli picks out one powerful example of how our future will change, explaining that advanced semiconductors will enable genome sequencing that is faster, less expensive and more accessible as a result.
This process—which determines a person’s complete DNA sequence to glean health insights—cost $1 million about 15 years ago and costs less than $1,000 today. “In the not-too-distant future, physicians will use a regular genome sequence to track disease progression and deliver a personalized treatment or medication plan,” Pontarelli says. “Advances in AI to process these massive amounts of data will make this a matter of course. You might even get a genome sequence every year with your physical exam.”
Abundant Innovation
He also predicts that with growing semiconductor power enabling new technologies, thousands of new businesses will bloom across healthcare, education, manufacturing, media and other markets. “Every one of those industries is going to see new entrants because there are innovators whose visions aren’t possible today, but will be possible in three years or five years,” Pontarelli says. “When they find that magic technology or that magic innovation unlocked by the siliconomy and they can see the product market fit for their idea, those opportunities will explode.”
Mark Pontarelli, vice president, corporate strategy and ventures at Intel, highlights the connection between the siliconomy and what Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger refers to as the five technology superpowers that are shaping how we experience the world.
Compute
connectivity
sensing
infrastructure
AI
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This refers to the crucial interlinking of computers and devices, enhancing their utility and functionality. Chips designed for connectivity, like those responsible for Wi-Fi or cellular functions, focus mainly on communication protocols and data transmission.
“In order to create value from pervasive computing, you need everything and everyone to be connected,” Pontarelli says.
Connectivity
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A proliferation of low-cost, high-resolution sensors can provide machines with human-like abilities. In the future, these could range from simple sensors that measure temperature to advanced ones for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, driving the need for increased compute to interpret data from their surroundings.
“The environments we live in create a tremendous amount of sensing data that will feed the AI advancements of the future,” Pontarelli says.
Sensing
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This represents the crucial systems needed to handle and store the massive amounts of data generated in today’s digital world, including both in data centers and through edge computing technologies that process data directly at its source.
The growing need for this infrastructure is driven by the increasing volume of data that fuels our modern society. Enterprise leaders expect they will need to secure more than four times the volume of data in 2028 compared with 2018, an Intel-commissioned study found.
Infrastructure
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AI allows a continuous stream of data to be turned into actionable insights. This technological breakthrough enables a wide range of applications, from predicting consumer preferences in stores to identifying genes associated with cancer.
AI-specific chips are required to carry out machine learning tasks. By 2025, these chips are projected to drive 20% of semiconductor demand, up from 7% in 2017, showcasing its increasing importance in the semiconductor industry and beyond.
AI
5
How It’s Evolving The Economy
Geopolitics has been defined by the location of oil reserves for more than half a century.
Gelsinger has said that over the next 50 years, the location of technology supply chains and where semiconductors are built will emerge as the new frontier.
As economic headwinds buffet the globe, almost $60 billion of annual research and development funding is ensuring a future of technological progress that can fuel the financial wellness of people around the world.
Here’s what this new economy looks like:
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WEB OF PROSPERITY
NEW CAREERS
GDP IMPACT
WELL-PAID JOBS
Some 39 countries have direct involvement in the supply chain for the fabrication of wafers—the tiny slices of silicon used to make semiconductors.
Many semiconductors are jetsetters: A single chip can cross international borders more than 70 times before arriving at an end customer. At each step of the journey, a local economy benefits from the demand for these chips.
A Global Web Of Prosperity
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The rise of AI is creating new jobs that weren’t conceivable just a few years ago. People now work in new roles like prompt engineers, who design inputs for generative AI to produce optimal outputs.
Others are employed as data labelers, adding context labels to raw data so that a machine learning model can properly learn from it.
Entirely New Careers
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Semiconductors enable the tech economy, which represents more than 15% of global GDP. The semiconductor industry is growing at a rate that is 2.5 times faster than physical GDP.
Technologies taken for granted in developed countries can catalyze major advances in a developing country. One mobile phone per every 10 people in a developing nation leads to a 0.5% GDP increase, for example.
GDP Impact
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Semiconductor industry workers consistently earn more than the U.S. average at all education levels—and these jobs create even more jobs. In the U.S. alone, more than 300,000 people are directly employed by the semiconductor industry. Each of those roles supports an additional 5.7 jobs in the wider economy through spending by those workers and through the supply chains of the semiconductor industry.
Well-Paid Jobs
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The Dream Of The Siliconomy
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