For more than forty years, the software development community has leveraged huge increases in computer chip performance and steady drops in chip prices to give consumers what they want: better products at lower prices.
In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip (essentially the speed of the chip) would double every two years – a pace of innovation unmatched by any other industry.
This American success story of rapid product improvement at steadily falling prices is no accident – companies like AMD, IBM, Intel, Sun and Texas Instruments annually invest tens of billions of dollars to ensure that software developers have the tools we need to deliver for the American consumer. The results are clear — from 2000 to 2008, processor performance increased 28 times while prices fell by 50 percent. Just looking at Intel, the average price of an Intel microprocessor for a PC has dropped by 60 percent over the past ten years.
The successes of the software industry –built on the innovations of the computer chip manufacturers—are innumerable, but a few examples include:
- Medical Imaging – Breakthroughs in processing power have enabled the 3D high definition imaging and multitouch interfaces that make software like InterKnowology’s VirtuView possible. Using this technology, doctors can be better prepared than ever for complicated heart procedures as they can investigate potential problems and annotate inside and outside the heart by placing stents and marking lesions.
- Digital Animation – When the digital animation studio Pixar was founded in 1986, the processing power necessary to produce its first hit movie “Toy Story” wasn’t even available. It took another five years before the technology was cost effective enough to start working on their first full-length movie. Today, even low budget Saturday morning cartoons can take advantage of photorealistic digital animation.
- Digital Imaging for Consumers – Just ten years ago, the average PC could not edit a picture from your 15 megapixel camera let alone play video of your kids from your high definition video camera. Today, you can shoot and edit video on your iPhone, and watch HD movies and surf the net simultaneously on your PC.
The chip market is clearly working well for software developers and consumers, and it appears any potential competitive issues have been resolved by the recent private settlement between AMD and Intel. Therefore, ACT is extremely concerned by the potential of additional government intervention in the chip market. The health and vibrancy of the computer chip market are beyond debate. Therefore, we in the software development community ask government regulators to proceed extremely cautiously and avoid any actions that may reduce incentives for innovation or result in higher chip prices for consumers. Such regulatory action presents a clear danger to our businesses, and could have the perverse effect of stifling innovation, raising prices, and costing American jobs.