Term of the Moment
Computer History Museum
Definition: transistor density
The number of transistors per square millimeter on a chip. Today's state-of-the-art SoCs (system-on-chips) contain more than 100 million, which is smaller than the head of a pin. See process technology, transistor and SoC.
132,000,000 Per Square Millimeter
More Than a Half Century Ago
One Hundred Million on the Head of a Pin
Apple's ARM-based M chips are state-of-the-art. The bare die of the M1 Max (middle) contains 57 billion transistors within a die size slightly less than one square inch. See Apple M series. (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.)
With 2,300 transistors and a die size barely an eighth of an inch square, Intel's general-purpose 4004 launched the company into the microprocessor business in 1971. See Intel 4004. (Image courtesy of Intel Corporation.)
Nearly impossible to fathom, but today's chips can contain 100 million and more transistors per square millimeter, which is about the size of the head of this pin.