Scientists generally believe that the improvements in microprocessor chips has crossed the threshold of Moore’s law in terms of increase in speed and reduction in size. This indicate that the path of further progress and improvements lead to other areas some of which are previously unknown.
Microprocessor chips dedicated to specific purposes like virtual reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, prosthetic and artificial limb enablers etc. are now being developed. Even the processor architecture attempts to make use of disciplines like quantum mechanics so as to simultaneously process multiple data sets.
Developing software with totally new algorithms that change the traditional capabilities in terms of complexity, cleverness and self learning is the most apparent area of innovation and improvement. Accessing applications and services through internet connected data centers known as cloud is another major area of advancement. This opens up the possibility of improving performance without actually improving the devices end users uses.
However, this makes improvements in internet connectivity and related infrastucture necessary. As the technological compuatational improvements shifts towards centralized cloud computing, people and corporates will be more and more dependent on the performance of their broadband connectivity.
The proliferation of devices and equipments that have sensors and have the ability to communicate with other devices and equipments as well as to the internet in general is also expected to be a growth area. This inturn will demand massively better analytical tools to analyze the data generated by these devices ( Internet of Things).