> CPU core count does not easily translate to performance gains.

In theory, performance scales logistically with the number of parallel processors (Amdahl's law).

In practice, the limit is (and has always been) memory and i/o. That's why Apple silicon kicks everyone's ass.

If we want faster computers, the biggest gains are not to be found in making processors do more work. It's in designing systems (not just CPUs) that don't let the CPU wait around to do work.