Why are CPU and GPU manufacturers trying to make transistors smaller and smaller instead of making the chips bigger so they can put more transistors?

Question

Why are CPU and GPU manufacturers trying to make transistors smaller and smaller instead of making the chips bigger so they can put more transistors?

In: 11

Answer 1

The main reason is cost and performance.

Smaller transistors = more transistors per area = smaller silicon dies = more chips per silicon wafer.

If your chip was 1 square inch, you can only make about 78 per 12 inch silicon wafer. But if you could shrink the chip down to 1 square cm, you can make about 600 per wafer. So the latter has a much higher yield and is more profitable.

Also larger chips requires more wire distance for electricity to travel which means larger resistance and this can result in signal delays/worse performance.