IBM has announced that it will invest $3bn over the coming five years in research semiconductor programmes aimed at creating chips that push the limits of silicon technology to 7 nanometers and below and create a ‘post-silicon future.’
First programme will focus on "7 nanometer and beyond" silicon technology addressing the physical challenges threatening current semiconductor scaling techniques and impede the ability to manufacture such chips, the company said.
IBM Research senior vice president John Kelly, "The question is not if we will introduce 7 nanometer technology into manufacturing, but rather how, when, and at what cost?"
"IBM engineers and scientists, along with our partners, are well suited for this challenge and are already working on the materials science and device engineering required to meet the demands of the emerging system requirements for cloud, big data, and cognitive systems," Kelly said.
"This new investment will ensure that we produce the necessary innovations to meet these challenges."
The second programme is called Bridge to a "Post-Silicon" Era, which is aimed at developing alternative technology to create post-silicon era chips to overcome the limitations of the present silicon based semiconductors.
The money will be also spent on creating a new programming language and application named semiconductor Neurosynaptic Computing which intends to boost computing speed with less energy consumption.
IBM researchers will also focus on Silicon Photonics, III-V technologies, Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene and the next generation of low power transistors.
IBM Systems and Technology Groups senior vice president, Tom Rosamilia said: "In the next ten years computing hardware systems will be fundamentally different as our scientists and engineers push the limits of semiconductor innovations to explore the post-silicon future."
"IBM Research and Development teams are creating breakthrough innovations that will fuel the next era of computing systems."
