smooth2o, you raise a good point and I have some followup -
Eventually, all major manufacturers need to surpass this (3GHz) barrier.
In what time frame, and on what technology? AMD does not need to do this until 65nm. Intel is right up against it with NetBurst.
...the concept does not involve rocket science.
In many ways it is a lot more complex than the rocket science that got us to the moon in the 1960s! In fact, the precision required at these geometries is unprecedented in the history of technology, requiring techniques and materials that long ago became magic to the common man.
Intel is far, far ahead of AMD in knowing about how to solve this problem using both process and microarchitectural solutions. It could be one of the reasons that they are maintaining the netburst architecture.
That is a bit speculative, and there is counter speculation that says Intel will base future product on Dothan design, not NetBurst. So far there is no evidence that Intel has the problem solved on 90nm. I expect they will fine tune the process, and get up to (perhaps) 3.6GHz, but this is getting harder and harder to do.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
