Intel offers $10,000 for Moore's Law magazine

Intel lives by Moore's Law, but it apparently doesn't have a copy of the magazine in which the law was first laid down.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant has posted a $10,000 bounty on eBay for someone who can provide it a pristine April 19, 1965, copy of Electronics Magazine.

That issue of the magazine contained an article by Intel co-founder Moore that described how the number of components on integrated circuits was doubling every year. The article became the foundation for his famed dictum.

"We have photocopies of the article, but not the actual issue of the magazine," stated an Intel spokesman in an email. "Gordon doesn?t have it and the Intel Museum doesn?t either."

Electronics Magazine went out of business several years ago.

The reward, posted here, says Intel will pay up to $10,000 for a copy of the magazine in mint condition and asks potential sellers to send a picture. The company may buy more than one copy, but at a lower price. Libraries are eligible, but the entity itself must be the seller.

Moore's Law--which currently states that the number of transistors doubles every two years--has been the cornerstone for the entire IT industry for decades as it has defined how products can simultaneously drop in price while improving in performance. This has created a situation in which users upgrade well before their equipment breaks, a boon for the industry.

Despite its historical significance, the article at the time wasn't considered a monument.

"I didn't think it would be especially accurate," Moore said in a recent interview.

Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research, also noted that the article didn't start until page 114 of the magazine.