Why do we need more powerful processors?
If all the programs like Java, .net keeps updating and getting better, then shouldn't it work on older systems?
You could look at 3D XPoint and NVRam instead where data lives, those have cut down to 1 digit latency as claimed by Intel or Micron. Still Java 9 should be what you're looking at, lastly, Erlang for lowest latencies.
If Sun have produced proprietary microprocessor for Java it did before, it would have been a different world for us now as far as I heard it has the native performance. It's cost and time effective to buy newer hardware than improves coding to squeeze as much performance as possible.
In fact, general purpose processors we know is not efficient, it uses lot of watts when moving data within the microprocessors. I let the expertise do the talks.