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The large language models that enable generative artificial intelligence (AI) are driving an increase in investment and an acceleration of competition in the field of silicon photonics, a technology that combines silicon-based integrated circuits (ICs) and optical components to process and transmit massive amounts of data more efficiently. Top-rank designers and manufacturers of ICs, AI systems and telecommunications equipment have all joined the race, including NVIDIA, TSMC, Intel, IBM, Cisco Systems, Huawei, NTT and imec, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre headquartered in Belgium. These and other organizations have been working on silicon photonics for many years, some of them (including Intel...

Above: IBM's carbon nanotubes have tiny circuits that are fractions of a meter apart.Image Credit: IBM Carbon nanotubes are the leading candidate to replace silicon in semiconductor chips after the decades-long run of silicon electronics runs out. And IBM is hoping to usher along that transition with a new breakthrough being announced today.In the October 2 issue of the journal Science, IBM researchers say they have overcome one of the most daunting challenges around carbon nanotube transistors, which are the building blocks of electronic circuits with dimensions that are measured in billionths of a meter. Carbon nanotubes may be...

IBM boffins have been given a tidy $3bn cash pile to solve a problem that lurks not too far in our future. That problem is the imminent breakdown in conventional chip operation and chip materials as we shrink transistor gates from today's 14nm process size to 10nm and 7nm. At around 7nm, which most industry observers expect we will hit in the early 2020s, things start to get really unpleasant. More and more jostling electrons jump in and out of gates against processor designers' wishes, leading to a frustrating problem known as gate current leakage. ... These investment areas include:...

An ultracompact beamsplitter – the smallest one in the world – has been designed and fabricated by researchers in the US. Using a newly developed algorithm, the team built the smallest integrated polarization beamsplitter to date, which could allow computers and mobile devices of the future to function millions of times faster than current machines.

University of Utah engineers have taken a step forward in creating the next generation of computers and mobile devices capable of speeds millions of times faster than current machines. The Utah engineers have developed an ultracompact beamsplitter—the smallest on record—for dividing light waves into two separate channels of information. The device brings researchers closer to producing silicon photonic chips that compute and shuttle data with light instead of electrons. Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon and colleagues describe their invention today in the journal Nature Photonics. Silicon photonics could significantly increase the power and speed of machines such...

Hewlett-Packard has kicked off an ambitious project that aims at nothing less than reinventing the basic architecture of computers. It looks like servers are its initial target, but HP is also working on an Android version that it says could lead to smartphones with 100TB of storage. HP said Wednesday it was working on a new computer architecture, dubbed The Machine, based on memristors and silicon photonics. Bloomberg Businessweek reports up to 75% of HP’s once fairly illustrious R&D division — HP Labs – are working on The Machine. In the words of HP Labs, The Machine will be a...