Was surfing around the various hardware sites when I stumbled across this little gem

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archi...060612corp.htm

Intel’s research and development involving new types of transistors has resulted in further development of a tri-gate (3-D) transistor for high-volume manufacturing. Since these transistors greatly improve performance and energy efficiency Intel expects tri-gate technology could become the basic building block for future microprocessors sometime beyond the 45nm process technology node.
Looks like Intel is pulling out all the stops to forge ahead, and really trying to regain its former lead over AMD. It should be interesting to see just how long they can keep moores law going for. This looks like the biggest breakthrough in basic transistor design since the 50's and could open up a whole new era of high preformence chips. Of course we, as users, will have to put these future chips to good use, playing Total War!