--- title: Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible) | daily.dev description: A nanoscopic look inside a modern system-on-chip (SoC) reveals billions of transistors just a few nanometers in size, organized into standard cells (logic... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible) | daily.dev og:description: A nanoscopic look inside a modern system-on-chip (SoC) reveals billions of transistors just a few nanometers in size, organized into standard cells (logic... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/kglOHCqM3.png og:image:alt: Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible) og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible) **[Branch Education](https://daily.dev/sources/brancheducation)** · 1 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A nanoscopic look inside a modern system-on-chip (SoC) reveals billions of transistors just a few nanometers in size, organized into standard cells (logic gates like OR, NAND, and NOT). These cells are interconnected through 18 layers of complex wire routing, with the smallest wires and transistors at the bottom and progressively larger interconnects toward the top layers that tie the entire chip together. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How many wiring layers does a typical smartphone SoC have connecting its transistors? A typical smartphone system on a chip is built from 18 layers of wiring. The bottom-most layers contain the transistors and the smallest wires, while the top layers are substantially larger and connect the entire chip together, with vertical vias linking each layer to the next. _For readers curious about chip internals, daily.dev surfaces more explainers on hardware architecture and semiconductor design._ --- Tags: [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible)","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3"},"datePublished":"2026-07-09T17:32:29.885Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:12:12.963Z","description":"A nanoscopic look inside a modern system-on-chip (SoC) reveals billions of transistors just a few nanometers in size, organized into standard cells (logic...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bez-2cvYja0/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bez-2cvYja0/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Branch Education","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Branch Education","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ClJg9V2n--/f_auto/v1729842971/logos/brancheducation","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/brancheducation"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"hardware","timeRequired":"PT1M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible)","description":"A nanoscopic look inside a modern system-on-chip (SoC) reveals billions of transistors just a few nanometers in size, organized into standard cells (logic...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bez-2cvYja0/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-07-09T17:32:29.885Z","duration":"PT1M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/kglOHCqM3","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bez-2cvYja0"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Branch Education","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/brancheducation"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Zooming Into a CPU (It's Incredible)"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/zooming-into-a-cpu-it-s-incredible--kglohcqm3#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How many wiring layers does a typical smartphone SoC have connecting its transistors?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A typical smartphone system on a chip is built from 18 layers of wiring. 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