American researchers unveil the world’s first liquid computer chip
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our understanding of computing improves, it is clear that the post-silicon computing era will be anything but dull. Over the past few years there have been a growing number of experts voicing concerns that Moore’s Law, and the age of silicon computing, is...
Graphene breakthrough opens the door to terahertz computer chips
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Graphene’s weird properties could help create computer chips that are thousands of times faster than today’s chips. Today’s silicon based electronic CPU’s, like the ones sold by AMD and Intel, operate at clock rates of several hundred gigahertz, hence the GHz acronym given to...
DARPA splashes $1.5bn to re-invent the way electronics are designed and made
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There is a concern that the lack of focus on developing new, advanced hardware will put US business and its military at a serious disadvantage in the future so DARPA is quadrupling its investments. There is now question that the electronics industry has been...
Researchers built a breakthrough quantum transistor using just a single atom
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As transistors get smaller companies are going to be able to create computers that are orders of magnitude more powerful and energy efficient than today’s platforms. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the development of a wide range of transistors that push...
Reverse engineering computer chips just became ridiculously easy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Computer chips are prized assets, but now reverse engineering them and spotting state sponsored built in security “Trojans,” are easier than ever before. Peering inside semiconductor chips using X-Ray imaging isn’t new, but the technique hasn’t been especially good or easy to accomplish. New...
Revolutionary AI chip that replaces GPU’s hailed as the “future” by ARM’s founder
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future will be powered by AI and Machine Learning, and it could also be powered by a new type of chip, an “Intelligence Processing Unit,” which is the next evolutionary step after the GPU. What comes after the CPU and the GPU? The...
Intel unveils Loihi, a revolutionary new Neuromorphic self-learning processor
WHY THIS MATTER IN BRIEF As the age of silicon based computing systems nears its natural conclusion new computing platforms are emerging that are capable of self-learning and revolutionising AI development, and which are millions of times faster and more energy efficient than today’s “antiquated” systems. Intel recently held...
Tomorrow’s computer chips will have new challenges and new architectures
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Standardised processors that run multiple workloads, but that have to be especially optimised to run specific workloads made sense, but tomorrow’s processors will have new challenges and need a new architectural approach. It’s over 10 years since Apple unveiled the first iPhone and since...
Scientists turn light into sound to create faster Photonic computers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Photonic computers will boost the speed of modern day computing by at least twenty fold, but while converting data into light is easy, getting it back again has proved a challenge. So far in the past few years we’ve turned light into a superfluid...
Ethereum falls after rumours of new powerful ASIC emerge
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The more centralised the mining of an individual cryptocurrency becomes, especially if it leverages new, more powerful technology, the greater the impact on a cryptocurrencies value. Rumors of a new ASIC mining rig from Bitmain have driven Ethereum prices well below their one week high of...
IBM breaks the record for the world’s smallest computer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As computers continue to shrink it allows organisations to dream up new ways of using them, and in IBM’s case they want to use their new tech to help cryptographically secure the Internet of Things. Each year IBM showcases “5 in 5” technologies coming...
Google are testing a 72 Qubit quantum computing chip
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Quantum computing companies are in a race to reach a major performance milestone called Quantum Supremacy, and Google looks like they might beat the rest of the world to the post. A few months after Intel revealed their first 17 Qubit quantum chip, IBM...
MIT’s new secure, low power chip helps create the “Internet of Secure Things”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF More cyber criminals are choosing to target Internet of Things devices than ever before because they are easy to gain access to and exploit at scale, MIT’s new chip hopes to reverse that trend. From data breaches to weaponised devices, the Internet of Things...
Supercomputer on a fingernail, artificial synapse ushers in new AI revolution
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There is nothing on Earth like the human brain, even today’s AI doesn’t come close, but now researchers have created an Artificial Synapse that’s 200 million times faster than a human synapse, and one day it will revolutionise AI and computing. Researchers at the...
MIT’s new artificial synapse brings “Brain on a chip” hardware closer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Computer chips that can learn by themselves will revolutionise Artificial Intelligence and let us create machines are that genuinely “intelligent.” For those working in the field of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) getting a computer to simulate how the human brain works is a gargantuan...
Researchers unveil the world’s first complete silicon quantum chip design
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Quantum computers promise unrivalled performance but all the chips designed so far are incompatible with today’s existing, silicon based legacy infrastructure, this breakthrough solves that and brings quantum computers with millions of Qubits within tantalising reach. Researchers have been trying to build quantum computers...
ARM CEO challenges the tech industry to build an immune system to prevent a cyber pandemic
WHY IT MATTERS Over the coming decades trillions of devices will become smart and connected and, unless companies and individuals come together to tackle the issue, we could be heading for a cyber security armageddon Cyber security today is bad, very bad, and as we all buy more devices,...
Watch: Intel unbox their exotic new 17 Qubit Quantum computing chip
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the era of silicon computing “fades” we’re entering the “Jurassic Era” of computing and seeing the emergence of many new and exotic types of computing platform, including chemical computing, DNA computing, Molecular computing, Quantum Computing and Photonic computing On Tuesday Intel announced that...
Power breakthrough, new Nvidia Xavier AI chips deliver an Exaflop for a megawatt
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nvidia is a chip company on the rise, their GPU’s are increasingly underpinning most company’s AI learning initiatives, and they’re innovating aggressively. At the inaugural GPU Technology Conference Europe the other week Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang unveiled Xavier, Nvidia’s all new, all singing and...
IBM unveils a new 5nm chip process, but 1nm looms on the horizon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As physical chip design starts to near its limits it is getting harder for companies to keep up with Moore’s Law but IBM’s latest announcement gives it a new shot in the arm – until that is Quantum Computing arrives. IBM, in partnership with...
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