But the growth in processing power needed for supercomputer may be reaching its limits. The rapid development of such technology has largely followed Moore’s Law — which holds that computing power approximately doubles every two years due to the shrinking size of technology. Now, Sterling said, we are rapidly approaching a point of nanoscale technology where fundamental things like atomic granularity and the speed of light will make Moore’s Law obsolete.
And the government, too, acknowledges that a major change is on the horizon. Among the other goals of the initiative is to establish a “viable path forward” for the future of supercomputing in a “post-Moore’s Law era” over the next 15 years.
Even with the challenges posed by the end of Moore’s Law, developing the exascale super computer is still largely achievable with the science we know now, Binkley said. But the next generation may require turning to other technologies, he said.
That’s one reason Sterling says he is excited to see the Obama administration focusing on the challenge. In a way, he said, this is more than a moonshot because “no one’s even decided what the rocket is going to look like.”
Article Appeared @https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/07/30/obama-wants-the-u-s-to-build-the-most-powerful-supercomputer-ever/?hpid=z12