A nice quote popped up from Gordon Moore, he of the eponymous and oft quoted law which anyone pushing nanotech as a totally disruptive technology would be wise to heed, as it does not only apply tothe semiconductor industry.
“Integrated circuits were a result of cumulative investment of over $100bn so to replace that, just springing full-blown from a small base, is unlikely. Electronics is a mature industry. And we’re already operating well below 100nm which is seen as the start of nanotech so we’re there already.
Building things up from the bottom, atom by atom, comes from a different direction. It’s not replacing ICs – the technology is being applied in different fields such as gene chips to do bio-analysis very quickly, micro-machines in airbags and avionics, micro-fluidics – chemical labs on a chip.
Electronics though is a fundamental technology that’s not likely to be replaced directly. There’s a difference between making a small machine and connecting them by the billion. Nanotech will have an impact but it’s not about replacing electronics in the foreseeable future.”
Hmm, pretty much what we have been saying since 2000.