This can generate an interesting discussion. In my opinion here are some research trends in microprocessor design:
- Power - Architects make great efforts to enable power saving features (shut down functional blocks when they are not used - e.g. Turn off L2 cache if your code is core bound)
- Super "Scalarness" - Current CPU's can execute more instructions in a single cycle. There's research for executing even more in future chips.
- Lower latency - There's always research on how to improve the latency of instructions.
- Scalability - We have CPU's with hundreds of cores. The challenge is to see scalable performance when parallelizing.
Some more research ongoing:
- Add more IP blocks to CPU's
- Improve integrated GPU to reach to a point where we play high end games on tablets
- Better I/O handling
- ISA improvements
One conclusion: Chip makers are making serious research that their architectures fit perfectly the software of tomorrow.