After being prone to massive security outbreaks related to its processors, Intel has now come up with an advancement hoping to speed up the futuristic computers with its super fast processors.
On 8th Jan at CES 2018, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, in his keynote speech, revealed two processors in which one deals with neuromorphic computing while the other deals with quantum computing. The company believes that the future of computing would reside in these two areas.
Intel unveiled its first neuromorphic chip – Loihi, which is designed to mimic the brain’s operations – the way brain learns and understands. The company aims to make machine learning even more efficient.
Loihi is a prototype chip based on neuromorphic computing that is used to perform object and pattern recognition. Neuromorphic computing is a concept that was developed by Carver Mead. It describes the use of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) systems that contain Analog circuits used to mimic neurological architectures in the human nervous system.
This chip aims to increase the efficiency of the system as the processes involved in AI are more complex and they require more computing power.
Unlike other AI systems, Loihi doesn’t require any training data to learn the process. This chip is modelled like a human brain containing over 130,000 neurons and 130 million synapses in digital form and fabricated on Intel‘s 14nm process technology.
Currently, the chip’s functionality is limited to object recognition. It is likely to be applied to self-driving cars and robots initially. By the half of 2018, Intel has planned to share the Loihi chip with research institutions and universities with an aim to advance in the AI field.
The second announcement of Intel was about its 49-qubit superconducting quantum test chip, Tangle Lake. It is about the size of a quarter. It is designed to scale for the quantum integrated circuit.
“We expect it will be five to seven years before the industry gets to tackle engineering-scale problems, and it will likely require one million or more qubits to achieve commercial relevance,” Mayberry says.
The Tangle Lake has come up with the scalable interconnect that allows a number of signals to pass in and out of the chip. The company has reduced the radio frequency interference and improvised the thermal performance of the chip.
Tangle Lake is a chip that is based on quantum computing which can do certain types of computations at an astounding speed.
Further details and reliability of the chip have not been mentioned by the company. We’ll have to see how the company manages to make advancements in developing its processors without having any impact of the Meltdown and Spectre attacks.
