New research initiative sees IBM commit $3 bn

San Francisco News.Net Wednesday 9th July, 2014

WASHINGTON - Seeking to inject brain like functionality in computers, IBM Wednesday announced plans to invest $3 billion into computing and chip materials research over the next five years as it looks into the next generation of computers.

The computer makes an approximation of how the brain processes information in parallel via trillions of connections, which are the synapses. IBM in 2011 demonstrated a neural chip with programmable and learning synapses that have navigation and pattern recognition abilities.

The point of the new research is to investigate all the different avenues for new technologies, rule out the ones that won't work and press ahead on the ones that show more promise, said Supratik Guha, director of physical sciences for IBM Research.

The trick, according to Guha is to "fail fast,"

IBM's research plans are being unveiled at a time when rumours abound of its plans to sell its chip-making business unit, IBM Microelectronics.

In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM was close to a deal to sell the business to GlobalFoundries, the privately held chip manufacturer.

Although IBM is doing research on the next generation of chips, it will not actually build them.. IBM's goal is to design a neural chip that mimics the human brain, with 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses but that uses just 1 kilowatt of power.

IBM is developing computers that mimic brain-like functionality as part of its Synapse program.

"The basic architecture of the computer has remained unchanged since the 1940s. We feel, given the kinds of problems we see today, [that] this is the time to start looking for new forms of computing," said Guha.

Silicon design has stalled and the ability to shrink chips is reaching its limit. IBM is looking at graphene, carbon nanotubes and other materials to replace silicon in computers, and will try to develop chips that can be scaled down to the atomic level.

The announcement comes a month after Hewlett-Packard disclosed that it too is rethinking the basic design of computers.

IBM's goal is to provide the building blocks for systems that can intelligently process vast amounts of data while consuming less power, said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president for Systems and Technology Group at IBM.

IBM is already making quantum computers and brain-like computers, which have been theorized for decades, but proven difficult to create. Those computers are based on different architectures than those used today, which leads to questions about whether one new type of architecture ought to be preferred over another, Rosamilia said.

The new generation of computers could benefit areas such as cancer research, weather modeling and providing more intelligent services over the cloud. Accelerators like graphics processors are improving computer performance in the short term, but shrinking silicon-based processors to boost performance and reduce power is becoming more complex, Rosamilia said.

The first fruits of the research will likely manifest in high-performance computers, but may eventually come to laptops and desktops, although Rosamilia couldn't provide a time frame for that.

The investment comes as Moore's Law runs its course. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore posited that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every two years and while that has held steady, it is expected to be outdated within the next decade.

Engineers are rethinking chip design to increase performance, especially as chips go into smaller geometries. Intel is preparing to ship PC chips made using the 14-nanometer process and has plans to move to the 10-nanometer process in the coming years.