FUTURE CHIPS WILL BE HOTTER THAN EVER

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Engineers have managed to double the number of transistors they can pack into the same area every two years, but the unwanted side effect of heat is becoming more and more prominent. Temperature affects performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency. Excessive heat can slow the propagation of critical signals in a processor, lead to a permanent degradation of chip performance over time, and cause transistors to leak more current, wasting power. As the density of logic circuits continues to grow, so does power density, generating heat as a by-product. Efficient heat dissipation will be crucial to maintaining chip performance and longevity as chips become increasingly compact and powerful.