No information can travel more than a foot (11.8 inches) in a nanosecond. Grace Hopper used to give a talk where she held up a piece of wire that was that long to illustrate this limitation. [1]
The first Cray computers were designed in a cylindrical shape to keep the signal wires short. [2]
The first Cray computers were designed in a cylindrical shape to keep the signal wires short. [2]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1