IBM 2nm

UltraTaco

UltraTaco

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Messages
150

IBM 2nm chip breakthrough claims more power with less energy​

7 hours ago
_118391498_gettyimages-1136623661.jpg
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Silicon wafers like these are made in a process measured in nanometres - and IBM says it has cracked the smallest one yet
IBM says it has made a significant breakthrough in computer processors by creating a 2nm chip in its test lab.
The process used to make computer chips is measured in nanometres (nm) - with a lower number usually signifying a leap forward.
IBM claims its test chip can improve performance by 45% over current 7nm commercially available products.
It is also more energy efficient - using 75% less energy to match current performance, IBM said.
ADVERTISEMENT
It claims the tech could "quadruple" mobile phone battery life, and phones might only need to be charged every four days.
The computer chip industry used to use nanometres - one billionth of a metre - to measure the physical size of transistors. Today, a lower "nm" number is widely seen as a marketing term to describe new generations of the technology, leading to better performance and lower power.
_118391502_f63dcf31-467e-4089-91bf-f48f35767827.jpg
IMAGE SOURCE,IBM
Image caption,
Transistors on the IBM "nanosheet" it uses for the new tech
IBM says its 2nm process can cram 50 billion transistors into "a chip the size of a fingernail" - up from 30 billion when it announced its 5nm breakthrough in 2017.
The end result should be another performance bump for computers in the coming years.

'A breakthrough'​

Current high-end desktop chips based on the 7nm process, such as AMD's Ryzen processors, did not become widely available until 2019 - four years after IBM announced it had cracked the 7nm process.
But mainstream commercial chip-makers such as Intel and TSMC - which makes AMD processors - have already said they plan to build ultra-low nm chip plants in the next several years.
"This can be considered as a breakthrough," said Peter Rudden, research director at market intelligence firm IDC.
_118391504_ibm_research_2_nm_wafer.jpg
IMAGE SOURCE,IBM
Image caption,
The chip wafer for the 2nm chip, held by an IBM employee
"We have seen semiconductor manufacturers moving from 14nm to 10nm to 7nm, with 7nm being a real challenge for some," he explained.
He said IBM's new process could be used for AI uses that today need a second piece of tech - such as a powerful graphics card- to handle some tasks. The increased power efficiency could be useful in personal devices, while increased performance would benefit huge datacentres, he added.
"This also sends a message to the IT industry that IBM continues to be a hardware research powerhouse."

Chip wars​

IBM said the test chip for its 2nm process was built at its Albany research lab in the United States.
The news comes amid an international shortage of computer chips and a bid to shake up chip manufacturing to rely less on major foundries in China and Taiwan.
Car manufacturers have been forced to suspend production due to the lack of computer parts; smartphone makers have warned product releases could be affected; and high-end computer components such as graphics cards are difficult to find and selling for high prices.
On Thursday, Nintendo joined the chorus of concerned companies, saying the chip shortage was affecting production of its hugely popular Nintendo Switch console.
The worldwide shortage led US President Joe Biden to convene a special industry summit on the shortage. In the UK, the government has intervened in the acquisition of chip designer Arm by tech giant Nvidia.
And Intel's chief executive has announced a $20bn (£14.6bn) investment in two new plants in the US, telling the BBC that having 80% of the world chip supply in Asia is not a good idea.


Woah!!! It even auto adds all photos taco copied from news page!! Super cool! Thank you!!

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57009930
 
UltraTaco said:

IBM 2nm chip breakthrough claims more power with less energy​

7 hours ago
View attachment 353826
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Silicon wafers like these are made in a process measured in nanometres - and IBM says it has cracked the smallest one yet
IBM says it has made a significant breakthrough in computer processors by creating a 2nm chip in its test lab.
The process used to make computer chips is measured in nanometres (nm) - with a lower number usually signifying a leap forward.
IBM claims its test chip can improve performance by 45% over current 7nm commercially available products.
It is also more energy efficient - using 75% less energy to match current performance, IBM said.
ADVERTISEMENT
It claims the tech could "quadruple" mobile phone battery life, and phones might only need to be charged every four days.
The computer chip industry used to use nanometres - one billionth of a metre - to measure the physical size of transistors. Today, a lower "nm" number is widely seen as a marketing term to describe new generations of the technology, leading to better performance and lower power.
View attachment 353827
IMAGE SOURCE,IBM
Image caption,
Transistors on the IBM "nanosheet" it uses for the new tech
IBM says its 2nm process can cram 50 billion transistors into "a chip the size of a fingernail" - up from 30 billion when it announced its 5nm breakthrough in 2017.
The end result should be another performance bump for computers in the coming years.

'A breakthrough'​

Current high-end desktop chips based on the 7nm process, such as AMD's Ryzen processors, did not become widely available until 2019 - four years after IBM announced it had cracked the 7nm process.
But mainstream commercial chip-makers such as Intel and TSMC - which makes AMD processors - have already said they plan to build ultra-low nm chip plants in the next several years.
"This can be considered as a breakthrough," said Peter Rudden, research director at market intelligence firm IDC.
View attachment 353828
IMAGE SOURCE,IBM
Image caption,
The chip wafer for the 2nm chip, held by an IBM employee
"We have seen semiconductor manufacturers moving from 14nm to 10nm to 7nm, with 7nm being a real challenge for some," he explained.
He said IBM's new process could be used for AI uses that today need a second piece of tech - such as a powerful graphics card- to handle some tasks. The increased power efficiency could be useful in personal devices, while increased performance would benefit huge datacentres, he added.
"This also sends a message to the IT industry that IBM continues to be a hardware research powerhouse."

Chip wars​

IBM said the test chip for its 2nm process was built at its Albany research lab in the United States.
The news comes amid an international shortage of computer chips and a bid to shake up chip manufacturing to rely less on major foundries in China and Taiwan.
Car manufacturers have been forced to suspend production due to the lack of computer parts; smartphone makers have warned product releases could be affected; and high-end computer components such as graphics cards are difficult to find and selling for high prices.
On Thursday, Nintendo joined the chorus of concerned companies, saying the chip shortage was affecting production of its hugely popular Nintendo Switch console.
The worldwide shortage led US President Joe Biden to convene a special industry summit on the shortage. In the UK, the government has intervened in the acquisition of chip designer Arm by tech giant Nvidia.
And Intel's chief executive has announced a $20bn (£14.6bn) investment in two new plants in the US, telling the BBC that having 80% of the world chip supply in Asia is not a good idea.


Woah!!! It even auto adds all photos taco copied from news page!! Super cool! Thank you!!

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57009930
Click to expand...
But what does Taco think of this development?
 
Krenum said:
We need a Taco meter, Floppy or Hard?
Click to expand...
That should be floppy, hard, or both glued together with refried beans. :D Hey, Intel is working on stacked chips.

Apparently Intel, Samsung and Global Foundries are somehow involved with IBM. Maybe this is Intel's ticket to get back on top. I hope they do. Would be nice to have the top process back in the US, though my #1 concern is the rest of the world (USA included) not being too dependent on an island the People's Democratic Republic of China wants to conquer.
 
zandor said:
That should be floppy, hard, or both glued together with refried beans. :D Hey, Intel is working on stacked chips.

Apparently Intel, Samsung and Global Foundries are somehow involved with IBM. Maybe this is Intel's ticket to get back on top. I hope they do. Would be nice to have the top process back in the US, though my #1 concern is the rest of the world (USA included) not being too dependent on an island the People's Democratic Republic of China wants to conquer.
Click to expand...
Nothing Democratic about the CCP, if it were up to them, they'd take it all and leave the rest of the world with nothing.
 
Krenum said:
Nothing Democratic about the CCP, if it were up to them, they'd take it all and leave the rest of the world with nothing.
Click to expand...
Oops. I screwed that up and mixed up China with North Korea. Should just be People's Republic of China. The even less democratic North Korea is officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Either way, China isn't a Republic either and I'd really rather not see them getting their hands on advanced chip production tech.
 
zandor said:
Oops. I screwed that up and mixed up China with North Korea. Should just be People's Republic of China. The even less democratic North Korea is officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Either way, China isn't a Republic either and I'd really rather not see them getting their hands on advanced chip production tech.
Click to expand...
No I wouldn't either, they can't even seem to control where their rockets make re entry. Hopefully it lands on Jinping's head.
 
UltraTaco said:
Taco thought their already making it, which made me confused why theres line for samsung and tmsc fans. Well I'll be bamboozled!

Your right, just saw it's in their test lab. Test lab!
Click to expand...
That's okay, though. If they can license it, that'd be a huge source of income (well, if chips ever start flowing again). If they sell it, they better set the price really freakin' high.
 
*putting on nerd glasses* reminder there is no standardized sizing scale for these process sizes- 14nm, 10nm, 7nm, 5nm, 2nm are all apples vs oranges.

In other words this isn't 2/7 of Zen3, or 2/14 of Intel.
 
Last edited:
I hold no malice towards IBM. They really helped Cyrix stay alive for a number of years by fabbing their chips. That being said, IBM is one of the most expensive players in the managed service space and unless this 2nm platform can be used to fab other people's designs en masse I don't know if its enough for IBM. Mainframes are going to disappear. Ultra low latency alone won't be enough to justify their costs in the future.
 
Just so surprising IBM is still around. You don't hear much from them anymore. They still a huge company and a profitable one it looks tho.
 
45% more dense than 7nm, which means it is likely equivalent to TSMC 5nm. But still, getting to 7nm was hard, so getting to 5nm is good.
 
Not long before we are in the negative number range!! Can't wait to see a -1nanometer chip design!!
 
zandor said:
That should be floppy, hard, or both glued together with refried beans. :D Hey, Intel is working on stacked chips.

Apparently Intel, Samsung and Global Foundries are somehow involved with IBM. Maybe this is Intel's ticket to get back on top. I hope they do. Would be nice to have the top process back in the US, though my #1 concern is the rest of the world (USA included) not being too dependent on an island the People's Democratic Republic of China wants to conquer.
Click to expand...
IBM is also one of the biggest players in materials other than Silicon, their massive R&D patent stack makes them somebody that all the major fab’s are going to want to be sucking up too.
 
I dunno why we hear so little of SIC or GAN outside of power transistors. Both handle 150C.
If you could get a full speed xPU to run correctly while hot, cooling would be less challenge.
Then you can maybe pack more switching events into a tighter space, or pour Valentina &
Chamoy over some gummi bear, japones peanut, and pickled pork nachos.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
longblock454 said:
How much life is left in IBM's POWER line? Could a 2nm POWER11 bring anything interesting?
Click to expand...
This is what I want to know. If they could push this into POWER before similar technology is adopted for ARM or AMD64, it could make quite the competitive product, and lead to an interesting 3-man race in the CPU market. Of course, with the current state of RISC-V, it they adopted the technology it could make for a very interesting time.

sunruh said:
P11 would be a ways off considering that P10 isnt really available ... yet
Click to expand...
Since this research is just released, it wouldn't be available for P10 anyway. P11 may be stretching is, considering how long a product is in development before release, but any current information is sketchy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top