In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore stated that the number of transistors on a single computer chip would steadily double every two years. This would, in turn, increase that processing power for computers, as new technology developed exponentially instead of incrementally. And for the past 50 years, his prediction — known as "Moore's law" — has held up . But now that transistors are approaching the size of an atom, maintaining that pace is becoming an increasingly less feasible — and more expensive — option for chip manufacturers. Within this new reality, semiconductor companies will have to focus on designing more specialized chips to process algorithms for hyper-specific applications, such as artificial intelligence.