Intel boggles mind with new chip: plaything for engineers requires advance in software

Posted Feb 12th 2007 5:43PM by Sarah Gilbert
Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Intel (INTC)

When my brother took a job at Intel's Folsom, Calif. office a year ago, the family mumbled -- the position was taking one of my parents' three grandchildren nearly a thousand miles away. But he was thrilled, as he'd be working on every engineer's dream: a super-chip. In the quest to get ever-more-powerful, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) has just announced successful production of a "mind-boggling" chip, one that can process 1 trillion calculations per second. Mind-boggling indeed: I can't even conceive of that speed and now understand why my brother had books on chaos theory by his bedside as a teen.

This is so fast, that every mention of it includes the phrases "revolutionize computing" and "lightning speed," and it makes me feel a tiny bit better that my son Everett can only play with his little cousin on holidays. The chip, which has a huge market in Wall Street's financial analyses (which could be done in seconds instead of the days they now take), physics, and gaming, will be ready for the market in about five years.

In which time software makers like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will have to scramble to develop systems that can operate on so-called "multicore" chips. According to BusinessWeek, software which takes advantage of two-core chips hasn't even been developed as of yet -- four, eight, 80 (that's what Intel's chip can hold)? Now the developers' minds are a-boggling. I don't quite get it, but the new chip layers memory in three dimensions, allowing it to be both fast and energy-efficient.

It's proof that, not only will my children have fantastic video games in 2012, but my brother should keep his job. Guess we'll have to start springing for trips to California -- I have another niece on the way!

Tags: 80, 80 core, 80-core, 80Core, aapl, apple, intc, intel, mind boggling, MindBoggling, multi-core, quadcore, test chip, TestChip

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-13-2007 @ 10:36AM

JOhn said...

It's a natural progression! Moore's Law and all. Memory is gonna move to the processor... less distance to travel = faster processing... BUT the need for new software to be "needed" is just a bit absurd. With faster processing, and increased capacity you also through in an Operating system capable of "Multi tasking" (been around for quite a while now in one form or the other) and you have a computer that can run simultaneous operating systems (think Linux/XP/and all the others) all at the same time "compartmentalized within "virtual" containment! This stuff is already "supposedly" available in XP! Nothing new here. Only thing new is the Software Mfg.s hype that it needs to be. But, as Computers are such a major part of the US's economy, new software will be written and will sell, BUT, knowledgeable IT departments won't just flock to it.... Of course this is just my Humble Opinion... I could be wrong... but I sure don't think so! John

2-13-2007 @ 1:58PM

Shannon said...

Hi Sarah, there is indeed software that can take advantage of multiple cores, more than two cores even! According to a 2006 EDC survey of software developers around the world, 35% are working on applications that can take advantage of multiple cores ('threaded apps'). This is important. To the point of the other poster, while the operating system will definately help use multi-cores to do things like run several open files or applications or take in info from the Internet or network, an operating system's scheduler can't go in and break down an application's programming to take advantage of multiple cores, the application has to provide the 'threads' for it to schedule -- and that's where most of the real multi-core use potential is. Computer hardware always has to be ahead of the software curve to give the developer's creativity room to grow. Personally I think we'll see someone break out of the software scene who really gets this new world order and will create something that changes the way we think of computing -- the opportunity is certainly there!