Medium-Scale Integration (MSI)

What Does Medium-Scale Integration (MSI) Mean?

Medium-scale integration is the process of embedding hundreds of transistors in one integrated circuit or microchip.

Techopedia Explains Medium-Scale Integration (MSI)

Medium-scale integration was developed in the early days of mainframe computers. In conventional microchip design, it has been replaced by successive integration methods such as large-scale integration, ultra-large-scale integration (USI) and very large scale integration (VLSI), as the ability to increase the number of transistors in integrated circuits improved. An IT theory known as Moore's Law has largely held out during the past two decades, showing that the number of transistors embedded in a single individual circuit has approximately doubled each year. With current technologies, engineers can embed billions of transistors in an integrated circuit.

Although medium-scale integration has been replaced by other methods for the regular creation of microchips, recent news shows that engineers have been using carbon nanotube methods to develop new kinds of microchips on a medium-scale integration level.