Rock's Law, named for venture capitalist Arthur Rock, says that the cost of a semiconductor chip fabrication plant doubles every four years. As of 2003, the price had already reached about 3 billion US dollars.

An end to Moore's Law has been predicted many times in the past few decades, but in every case seemingly insurmountable technological obstacles have fallen to the relentless application of human ingenuity in the pursuit of a profit. The ultimate limit to Moores's Law is that each component of a chip, (eg. one emitter of one transistor) must consist of at least one atom. The PC industry has always been extremely capital-intensive, with very low unit manufacturing costs. Thus, the ultimate limits to growth of the industry will constrain the maximum amount of capital that can be invested in new products; at some point, Rock's Law will collide with Moore's Law.

External Links

• CNET: Soaring costs of chipmaking recast industry
• "Moore's law will have to slow down" in China to spark new bust