IBM has announced that it is allocating $3 billion for two research initiatives that would improve the capability of current chip technology to meet the increasing capacity demands of cloud computing and Big Data systems.
The first research program is meant to improve on "7 nanometer and beyond" silicon technology. This means that the company is looking for ways to maximize the capacity of normal silicon chips. The second research initiative, on the other hand, will look for alternative materials and techniques to silicon technology. The technologies, which IBM is brashly calling 'post-silicon era' chips, are meant to provide solutions to the physical shortcomings of silicon semiconductors. The areas that may be possible sources of a solution include neurosynaptic computing, carbon nanotubes, silicon photonics, low power transistor, quantum computing and graphene, the wonder material that Samsung is banking on for breakthroughs in bendable devices.
IBM, through a mix of expertise in neuroscience, supercomputing and nanoscience, also claims to have developed a new technology that gives computer systems enough processing power to approximate the human brain's efficiency in terms of size, computing and power usage. The company said that its goal is to build a neurosynaptic system that closely emulates the human brain, complete with 100 trillion synapses and 10 billion neurons.
"The question is not if we will introduce 7 nanometer technology into manufacturing, but rather how, when, and at what cost?" IBM Research Senior Vice President John Kelly said in a press release. "IBM engineers and scientists, along with our partners, are well suited for this challenge and are already working on the materials science and device engineering required to meet the demands of the emerging system requirements for cloud, big data, and cognitive systems."
According to IBM, the limitations of silicon transistors are now becoming more apparent as chips shrink to nanoscale proportions. The smaller size is said to hamper improvements in capacity and performance due to the forbidding nature of silicon and the laws of physics. To find a solution to the limitations of silicon chips, IBM said that it plans on leveraging the 500 patents it currently holds. The company, which claims to be at a pace that is twice faster than its nearest competitor, will bankroll the initiatives for the next five years.
