" If the industry can't deliver results quickly, investment will dry up and Moore's law will turn from exponential, to linear, to flat."
Turn Moore's Law around a bit and bare with me:
I've begun to wonder if Moore's Law is better thought of primarily economically rather than scientifically... addressing issues with product pipeline management, upgrade demand/appetite etc. Given that Moore was managing a technology that grew in jumps and spurts as discoveries were made and problems overcome; he might want to level that road out for the near future... (which yes, ended up being 50 years)!
By publicly stating "Moore's law" he was setting a pace for the industry that allowed some stability for the entire industry ( and maybe kept them from competing each other out of business).
Moore's Law wasn't predicting the technological advancement per say, but instead stabilizing to better manage it.. and in that way it also enabling the advancements to continue at pace. So technologically it turned out it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So with "Moore's Law" coming to an end the industry needs to find a new stable state... and TFA points out some possibilities... and as you say... whether stability is found somewhere off of the pure performance curve is another question.
Just my 2 cents at 2am... Thoughts?
