As reported by Engadget on Thursday, May 6, 2021.
Schematic (Image credit: sergei_spas/Pixabay/public domain CC0)
IBM claims that it has taken a major step forward in chip technology by making its first 2nm chip. The company says it has compressed 50 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail.
According to IBM, the architecture could help processor makers deliver a 45 percent performance boost with the same amount of power as current 7nm-based chips, or achieve the same level of performance with 75 percent less energy consumption. Many 2-nm-based processors may offer something in between to achieve a balance between better performance and greater power efficiency.
Mobile devices with 2nm-based processors may have four times the battery life of mobile devices with 7nm chipsets. IBM claims you may only need to charge these phones once every four days. According to IBM, laptop computers will be faster with such processors, while self-driving cars will detect and react to objects faster. The company claims the technology will benefit data center energy efficiency, space exploration, artificial intelligence, 5G and 6G, and quantum computing, among other technologies.
IBM appears to have made the 2nm breakthrough ahead of its competitors. Apple’s M1 and A14 ran alongside Huawei’s Kirin 9000 last fall, the first processors based on TSMC’s 5nm technology node process. While Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 is made using Samsung’s 5nm technology, other manufacturers, such as AMD and Qualcomm, are now typically using TSMC’s 7nm chips.
As for Intel, the company is unlikely to release a 7nm processor before 2023. It is currently using 10nm and 14nm chips. However, Intel chips tend to have a higher transistor density than their competitors in the same nm class, so this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Meanwhile, TSMC is also working on a 2nm process and is expected to mass produce 4nm and 3nm next year.
It’s unclear when 2nm processors will make it to consumer devices, but announcing 2nm chips and mass producing them is a different challenge. IBM plans to release its first commercial 7nm processor in its Power Systems servers this year. Although 2nm processors are likely to be at least a few years away from notebook computers and cell phones, it is at least good to know that a more powerful and efficient CPU is in the pipeline.
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