Intel on Monday touted a diminutive new microprocessor that it said could deliver “supercomputer-like” performance to home computers and handheld devices.
Intel said its unprecedented programmable processor is not much larger than a fingernail, uses less power than a typical home appliance and can perform more than a trillion calculations per second — a “teraflop”.
Such “tera-scale computing” could make possible artificial intelligence, real-time speech recognition, realistic video games, instant online film viewing and other stuff from the realm of science fiction, according to Intel.
“Our researchers have achieved a wonderful and key milestone in terms of being able to drive multicore and parallel computing performance forward,” said Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner. “It points the way to the near future when teraflops-capable designs will be commonplace and reshape what we can all expect from our computers and the internet at home and in the office.”
The first computer to run at a teraflop speed was an Intel-built machine at Sandia National Laboratories in 1996. That ASCI Red Supercomputer took up more than 185 square metres and used 500 kilowatts of electricity.
Santa Clara, California-based Intel’s “80-core” research chip attains teraflop performance using 62 watts.
Intel has no plans to market the new chip but said it will be used to develop compatible software and computer connections capable of handling fast-moving avalanches of data. — AFP