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Cleverer management of the local memory banks known as
‘caches’ could improve computer chips’ performance while reducing their energy
consumption.
Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep
getting smaller. But the chips themselves are as big as ever, so data moving
around the chip, and between chips and main memory, has to travel just as far.
As transistors get faster, the cost of moving data becomes, proportionally, a
more severe limitation.