“We’ll always strive to get back to two years,” Mr Krzanich said. But he added in response to one analyst’s question that he was “not sure” whether the change was a temporary phenomenon or a permanent shift that would eventually see the end of Moore’s Law, given “open questions” around the cutting-edge technology required to manufacture ever-shrinking components in huge volumes. The change is not the first modification to Moore’s Law, which originally stated that processing power would double every year, before being updated in 1975 to the two-year cycle that has remained constant ever since. But analysts said the comments were the clearest sign yet that Moore’s Law may be beginning to break down. The trend has been responsible for the regular upgrades that consumers have come to expect in new computers and smartphones.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/36b722bc-2b49-11e5-8613-e7aedbb7bdb7.html#axzz3fl0Nj7tD