
IBM Unveils New Chip Technology
ARMONK, N.Y. (
) --
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
has unveiled a new form of chip technology which it claims will pave the way to smaller, faster and more power-efficient processors.
The new technology, which goes by the catchy name of CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics, combines both electrical and optical components on the same piece of silicon. This lets chips communicate using pulses of light, as opposed to traditional electrical impulses, according to the tech giant.
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The result of a decade's worth of development work, Silicon Nanophotonics is part of a broader IBM strategy called Exascale computing, which sees IBM trying to develop a supercomputer capable of one trillion calculations a second. IBM says that this "exaflop supercomputer" will be approximately 1,000 times faster than the fastest machine today.
IBM is a major player in the world of high-performance computing, a term that refers to powerful computers capable of handling vast quantities of data, typically found in government research labs and on Wall Street. Server maker IBM holds the most systems on the recent list of top 500 supercomputers, ahead of
HP
(HPQ) - Get Report
and
Cray
.
The top 500 List is dominated by huge computer systems at government agencies such as the
DOE
, but the list also revealed that IBM provides supercomputer technology to companies like
Lockheed Martin
(LM) - Get Report
and a host of financial firms and IT service providers.
IBM told
TheStreet
that it will offer its first Silicon Nanophotonics products in the next three to five years. "We are pursuing development of Exascale systems that will use this new nanophotonics technology by the end of the decade, possibly around 2018," said an IBM spokesman, in an e-mail.
IBM shares climbed $2.52, or 1.78%, to $143.98 on Wednesday as the Nasdaq gained 1.84%.
--Written by James Rogers in New York.
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