This Former Intel CEO Wants to Jumpstart Moore’s Law With Light
This Former Intel CEO Wants to Jumpstart Moore’s Law With Light
这位前英特尔 CEO 想要用“光”重启摩尔定律
After Pat Gelsinger departed Intel as CEO in late 2024, he held 100 meetings in 100 days. The idea, he told WIRED recently, was to whittle down his options until he figured out what to do next. 在帕特·基辛格（Pat Gelsinger）于 2024 年底卸任英特尔 CEO 后，他在 100 天内参加了 100 场会议。他最近告诉《连线》（WIRED），他的想法是通过这些会议筛选出各种选择，直到确定下一步该做什么。
The following March, Gelsinger announced that he had taken a position as general partner at Playground Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in deep tech, taking bets on fledgling technologies built on new science. 次年 3 月，基辛格宣布他已加入专注于深科技（deep tech）的风险投资公司 Playground Capital 担任普通合伙人，押注那些基于新兴科学的初创技术。
Gelsinger took the role with the aim of helping a new generation of semiconductor startups reawaken Moore’s law. Decades ago, Intel cofounder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double roughly every two years, with a corresponding leap in performance. That held true for a long time, but as semiconductor firms press the limits of physics, further shrinking atomic-scale transistors has become prohibitively difficult and expensive. 基辛格担任这一职务的目标是帮助新一代半导体初创公司唤醒摩尔定律。几十年前，英特尔联合创始人戈登·摩尔（Gordon Moore）预测，芯片上的晶体管数量大约每两年翻一番，性能也会随之大幅提升。这一规律在很长一段时间内保持有效，但随着半导体公司不断逼近物理极限，进一步缩小原子级晶体管变得极其困难且昂贵。
Gelsinger believes the best way to break that impasse is through advances in lithography—etching chips using nanometer-scale beams of light. The leading lithography technology, developed by the Dutch company ASML, lets chip manufacturers print using 13.5-nanometer wavelength light. The ability to cram in more, even smaller features, the logic goes, would unlock even more powerful processors. 基辛格认为，打破这一僵局的最佳途径是光刻技术的进步——即利用纳米级光束蚀刻芯片。目前领先的光刻技术由荷兰公司 ASML 开发，允许芯片制造商使用 13.5 纳米波长的光进行印刷。逻辑在于，能够塞入更多、更小的特征，就能解锁性能更强大的处理器。
When he joined Playground, Gelsinger took a board seat at xLight, a portfolio company developing novel lithography techniques that also recently received investment from the US government. (When we spoke, Gelsinger repeatedly offered the phrase, “God said, ‘Let there be light!’”) 加入 Playground 后，基辛格进入了 xLight 的董事会。这是一家开发新型光刻技术的投资组合公司，最近也获得了美国政府的投资。（在交谈中，基辛格反复提到那句名言：“上帝说，‘要有光！’”）
As artificial intelligence upends the software industry, more and more VC firms are shifting toward deep tech. But few, Gelsinger contends, are better equipped than he is to spot the winners. 随着人工智能颠覆软件行业，越来越多的风投公司正转向深科技领域。但基辛格认为，很少有人能像他这样具备识别赢家的能力。
WIRED met Gelsinger in early July at the RAISE Summit conference in Paris. We discussed his process for vetting deep tech founders, the US government’s shifting stance on AI and semiconductors, and why breakthroughs in those fields necessarily come hand in hand. 7 月初，《连线》在巴黎的 RAISE 峰会上采访了基辛格。我们讨论了他评估深科技创始人的流程、美国政府在人工智能和半导体领域不断变化的立场，以及为什么这两个领域的突破必然是相辅相成的。
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. （本文经过编辑，以求简洁明了。）
WIRED: Roughly four months separated your departure from Intel and arrival at Playground. What was going through your head during that period? 《连线》：从你离开英特尔到加入 Playground 大约有四个月的时间。那段时间你在想什么？
PAT GELSINGER: My wife said, “You’re not done yet.” I was looking at government roles, university roles, CEO roles, private equity, venture. It was really a deductive process. I decided I didn’t want to do [any more] public earnings calls. I didn’t see myself as a politician. It came down to private equity or venture. I want to do things that matter—that if they succeed, make a difference—with people I enjoy. 帕特·基辛格： 我妻子说：“你还没到退休的时候。”我当时在考虑政府职位、大学职位、CEO 职位、私募股权和风险投资。这实际上是一个排除法的过程。我决定不再参加公开的财报电话会议。我也不认为自己适合当政客。最终，选择范围缩小到了私募股权或风险投资。我想做一些有意义的事情——如果成功了能带来改变——并且是和我喜欢的人一起共事。
Why did you decide against private equity? 你为什么决定不选择私募股权？
Private equity writes bigger checks, but it’s not as focused on the tech. At this phase of my career, do I want to write big checks and worry about financial returns, or do I want to do cool tech? We’re at the edge of science, proving things out. That’s always the kind of person I’ve been. I love tech. 私募股权开出的支票金额更大，但它对技术的关注度没那么高。在我职业生涯的这个阶段，我是想开大额支票并担心财务回报，还是想做酷炫的技术？我们正处于科学的前沿，在验证各种可能性。我一直就是这样的人。我热爱技术。
A bunch of VCs are shifting toward deep tech in response to the disruption of the software industry by AI. What’s your take on how AI is changing where the next investment opportunities appear? 为了应对人工智能对软件行业的颠覆，许多风投公司正转向深科技。你如何看待人工智能正在改变下一个投资机会出现的位置？
The door has blown wide open. In 2024, the semiconductor industry aimed to hit a trillion dollars by 2030. Now, we’ll hit a trillion dollars next year. I don’t need my companies to win the market to get extraordinary returns. I just need them to win a decent percentage. That’s what AI has done to deep tech venture. The good news is that a lot of venture firms are swinging in that direction. The bad news is that, for the most part, they’ve forgotten how to do deep tech—how to pick the winners and losers. 大门已经彻底敞开了。2024 年时，半导体行业的目标是在 2030 年达到万亿美元规模。现在，我们明年就能达到万亿美元。我不需要我投资的公司赢得整个市场就能获得超额回报。我只需要它们赢得相当一部分市场份额即可。这就是人工智能对深科技风投的影响。好消息是，许多风投公司正朝着这个方向转型。坏消息是，在很大程度上，他们已经忘记了如何做深科技投资——即如何挑选赢家和输家。
What’s your process for assessing the credibility of deep tech founders, when sometimes the physics behind their inventions hasn’t yet been proven? 当深科技发明背后的物理原理尚未得到验证时，你评估创始人可信度的流程是什么？
Our investment team is deeply technical—they’re engineers, PhDs, professors, etc. Then we go through a rigorous tech diligence process: lots of interviews, and background checks. What’s the hard problem? Can they articulate it in depth? We’re looking to fund the best team—not a team—on a given topic. 我们的投资团队技术背景深厚——他们是工程师、博士、教授等。然后，我们会进行严格的技术尽职调查：大量的面试和背景调查。核心难题是什么？他们能否深入阐述？我们寻求的是在特定课题上资助最优秀的团队，而不是随便一个团队。
But to what extent are those checks even possible, when the ideas behind these startups are sometimes pressing the limit of scientific understanding? 但是，当这些初创公司背后的想法有时是在挑战科学认知的极限时，这些调查在多大程度上是可行的？
Generally, when you see deep tech things emerge, there’s usually two or three companies gravitating to that idea. Very rarely do you find the dodo bird. Then you’re asking, ‘Am I picking the best one?’ 通常情况下，当你看到深科技事物出现时，往往会有两三家公司都在向那个想法靠拢。你很少会发现那种“独苗”（dodo bird）。这时候你问的是：“我选的是最好的那一个吗？”
Tell me about the bets you’re making at Playground. You’ve taken a board seat at xLight. 谈谈你在 Playground 的投资布局吧。你已经进入了 xLight 的董事会。
One of the reasons I joined Playground was because of xLight. Those are the kind of companies I want to work on, because I’m deeply invested in making the semiconductor industry the future—waking Moore’s law from its nap. If we solve light, that is the hardest problem. Can I move past 13.5-nanometer light? That’s the next breakthrough. With free-electron lasers, we could go [smaller], to 5-, 4-, 3-, 2-nanometer wavelength light. 我加入 Playground 的原因之一就是 xLight。这就是我想参与的那类公司，因为我深切地致力于让半导体行业成为未来——唤醒沉睡的摩尔定律。如果我们解决了光的问题，那才是最难的挑战。我能超越 13.5 纳米的光吗？那是下一个突破。利用自由电子激光器，我们可以做得更小，达到 5、4、3、2 纳米波长的光。
xLight is not versus ASML, it’s with ASML. The first thing we want to do is hook our light source up and make ASML machines better. It doesn’t get better than that. xLight 不是要对抗 ASML，而是与 ASML 合作。我们想做的第一件事就是连接我们的光源，让 ASML 的机器变得更好。没有比这更好的了。
You think lithography is the key to reawakening Moore’s law, more than processor design? 你认为光刻技术是唤醒摩尔定律的关键，比处理器设计更重要？
Light is the most important thing. God said, “Let there be light.” We’re going to harness that as far as we can take it. There’s a variety of things percolating in the space—new material structures, superconducting, ferroelectric materials—but all of them need lithography. It’s always been the center of semiconductors. If I wake up lithography, that’s thrilling. It’s a pretty exhilarating period of human history. For a technologist, it doesn’t get better than this. 光是最重要的。上帝说，“要有光。”我们要尽可能地利用它。这个领域里有很多正在酝酿的东西——新材料结构、超导、铁电材料——但所有这些都需要光刻技术。它一直是半导体的核心。如果我能唤醒光刻技术，那将非常令人振奋。这是人类历史上一个非常令人激动的时期。对于技术专家来说，没有比这更好的时代了。