> the amount of power leakage (heat) is proportional to the size of the transistors Small correction: leakage actually increases as transistors shrink. This is

> the amount of power leakage (heat) is proportional to the size of the transistors Small correction: leakage actually increases as transistors shrink. This is why high-k dialectric and fin-fets were such important developments. They pushed back the point at which leakage power overtakes switching power as the dominant source of waste. Even with these technologies, we have to do a lot of design work to reduce leakage. I can't even guess how many power domains are on modern cpus -- certainly dozens if not hundreds. Most of those domains can be switched off to eliminate leakage in those domains altogether. I'm nearly certain you meant switching power reduces as transistors shrink, which has been true so far. Things are getting weird with these new processes, and a lot of things that we've held as fact are looking less and less reliable.