Transistor count

, the highest transistor count in flash memory is Micron's 2terabyte (3D-stacked) 16-die, 232-layer V-NAND flash memory chip, with 5.3trillion floating-gate MOSFETs (3bits per transistor). The highest transistor count in a single chip processor is that of the deep learning processor Wafer Scale Engine 2 by Cerebras. It has 2.6trillion MOSFETs in 84 exposed fields (dies) on a wafer, manufactured using TSMC's 7 nm FinFET process. , the GPU with the highest transistor count is Nvidia's Rubin accelerator, built on TSMC's custom N3P process node and totaling 336 billion MOSFETs. The highest transistor count in a consumer microprocessor is 184billion transistors, in Apple's ARM-based dual-die M3 Ultra SoC, which is fabricated using TSMC's 3 nm semiconductor manufacturing process. In terms of computer systems that consist of numerous integrated circuits, the supercomputer with the highest transistor count was the Chinese-designed Sunway TaihuLight, which has for all CPUs/nodes combined "about 400 trillion transistors in the processing part of the hardware" and "the DRAM includes about 12 quadrillion transistors, and that's about 97 percent of all the transistors." To compare, the smallest computer, dwarfed by a grain of rice, had on the order of 100,000 transistors. Early experimental solid-state computers had as few as 130 transistors but used large amounts of diode logic. The first carbon nanotube computer had 178 transistors and was a 1-bit one-instruction set computer, while a later one is 16-bit (its instruction set is 32-bit RISC-V though). Ionic transistor chips ("water-based" analog limited processor), have up to hundreds of such transistors. Estimates of the total numbers of transistors manufactured: • Up to 2014: • Up to 2018: == Transistor count ==

counts for microprocessors against dates of in­tro­duction. The curve shows counts doubling every two years, per Moore's law. Microprocessors A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit. It is a multi-purpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. The development of MOS integrated circuit technology in the 1960s led to the development of the first microprocessors. The 20-bit MP944, developed by Garrett AiResearch for the U.S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter in 1970, is considered by its designer Ray Holt to be the first microprocessor. The following table does not include the memory. For memory transistor counts, see the Memory section below. FPGA A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturing. Memory Semiconductor memory is an electronic data storage device, often used as computer memory, implemented on integrated circuits. Nearly all semiconductor memories since the 1970s have used MOSFETs (MOS transistors), replacing earlier bipolar junction transistors. There are two major types of semiconductor memory: random-access memory (RAM) and non-volatile memory (NVM). In turn, there are two major RAM types: dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and static random-access memory (SRAM), as well as two major NVM types: flash memory and read-only memory (ROM). Typical CMOS SRAM consists of six transistors per cell. For DRAM, 1T1C, which means one transistor and one capacitor structure, is common. Capacitor charged or not is used to store 1 or 0. In flash memory, the data is stored in floating gates, and the resistance of the transistor is sensed to interpret the data stored. Depending on how fine scale the resistance could be separated, one transistor could store up to three bits, meaning eight distinctive levels of resistance possible per transistor. However, a finer scale comes with the cost of repeatability issues, and hence reliability. Typically, low grade 2-bits MLC flash is used for flash drives, so a 16 GB flash drive contains roughly 64 billion transistors. For SRAM chips, six-transistor cells (six transistors per bit) was the standard. In single-level flash memory, each cell contains one floating-gate MOSFET (one transistor per bit), whereas multi-level flash contains 2, 3 or 4 bits per transistor. Flash memory chips are commonly stacked up in layers, up to 128-layer in production, and 136-layer managed, and available in end-user devices up to 69-layer from manufacturers. Transistor computers card cage populated with Standard Modular System cards Before transistors were invented, relays were used in commercial tabulating machines and experimental early computers. The world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer, the 1941 Z3 22-bit word length computer, had 2,600 relays, and operated at a clock frequency of about 4–5 Hz. The 1940 Complex Number Computer had fewer than 500 relays, but it was not fully programmable. The earliest practical computers used vacuum tubes and solid-state diode logic. ENIAC had 18,000 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, and 1,500 relays, with many of the vacuum tubes containing two triode elements. The second generation of computers were transistor computers that featured boards filled with discrete transistors, solid-state diodes and magnetic memory cores. The experimental 1953 48-bit Transistor Computer, developed at the University of Manchester, is widely believed to be the first transistor computer to come into operation anywhere in the world (the prototype had 92 point-contact transistors and 550 diodes). The 1962 15-bit Apollo Guidance Computer used "about 4,000 "Type-G" (3-input NOR gate) circuits" for about 12,000 transistors plus 32,000 resistors. The IBM System/360, introduced 1964, used discrete transistors in hybrid circuit packs. The next generation of computers were the microcomputers, starting with the 1971 Intel 4004, which used MOS transistors. These were used in home computers or personal computers (PCs). This list includes early transistorized computers (second generation) and IC-based computers (third generation) from the 1950s and 1960s. Logic functions Transistor count for generic logic functions is based on static CMOS implementation. Parallel systems Historically, each processing element in earlier parallel systems—like all CPUs of that time—was a serial computer built out of multiple chips. As transistor counts per chip increases, each processing element could be built out of fewer chips, and then later each multi-core processor chip could contain more processing elements. Goodyear MPP: (1983?) 8 pixel processors per chip, 3,000 to 8,000 transistors per chip. Other devices == Transistor density ==

The transistor density is the number of transistors that are fabricated per unit area, typically measured in terms of the number of transistors per square millimeter (mm2). The transistor density usually correlates with the gate length of a semiconductor node (also known as a semiconductor manufacturing process), typically measured in nanometers (nm). , the semiconductor node with the highest transistor density is TSMC's 5 nanometer node, with 171.3million transistors per square millimeter (note this corresponds to a transistor-transistor spacing of 76.4 nm, far greater than the relative meaningless "5nm") 106,100,000 185,460,000 == Gate count ==

In certain applications, the term gate count is preferred over the term transistor count. It refers to the number of logic gates built with transistors and other electronic devices needed to implement a design. == See also ==