New magnetic chips could offer higher speeds at lower power

We've heard of plenty of next generation ideas for processing, such as quantum and photon computing, but "magnetic quantum cellular automata" is a new one on us. We won't bore you with the details of these magnetic microchips, but the upshot of the design is that the chip can be reconfigured on the fly, allowing for specialized applications and speedier work due to custom configurations. The chip can also double as nonvolatile magnetic storage in much the same vein as MRAM, making it even more versatile, but the overall benefit of the technology seems to be in its complete lack of wires, meaning less heat and less power, which is always fine by us.

[Jose Lara @ Feb 15th 2006 7:12PM]

Wow. after looking at that diagram, im trully astonished of how far power consumerism has went. I think we are headed into a new era of technology which means cell phones, portable gaming, digital cameras, everything we use personally. Alll i have to say its WOW.

[steven @ Feb 15th 2006 7:54PM]

That's awesome. The nonvolatility should make it rock-solid, and the programmability improves upon FPGAs.

[Chris @ Feb 15th 2006 10:02PM]

less heat and less power???? Do they mean power consumption, or power as in speed/strength

[Paranoised @ Feb 15th 2006 10:12PM]

#3-> Definitely less power consumption.

This design is pretty interesting, I hope that it sees the light of the day eventually

[Ben @ Feb 15th 2006 11:54PM]

I read some stuff on this from M.I.T. ... it's not just the speed and power, start up is non existant as long as the rest of the computer can handle it. Can't wait for this though

[pbase @ Feb 16th 2006 1:46AM]

So do these chips mean that finally, one device can become anything/everything?

[furtim @ Feb 16th 2006 2:17AM]

Huh. This is definitely the first I've heard of anybody trying something like this, but I'm definitely impressed!

It'll be interesting to see whether this or quantum computing gets productised first. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that of the two, this will be hitting shelves (or supercomputer clusters) sooner, if only because it doesn't sound like as much of a paradigm shift on the hardware programming level. Qubits are kind of funny.

Also: So THAT'S what the cellular automata thing is all about.

[iomatic @ Feb 16th 2006 2:43AM]

You're SURE this isn't the Marimba?

[snac @ Feb 16th 2006 3:45AM]

And people thought the G5 was cool.

[Agostinho Rosa @ Feb 16th 2006 6:09AM]

Isn't this a vaporware? Or some kind of "revisited invention"?
I know anyone here say this is an actuality, but hype about an 2002 article?

[Nick @ Feb 16th 2006 8:18AM]

Yes, but how long until Joe Schmoe or even Geek Deak actually will see this technology available for their systems?

Just like fossil fuel industry giants, the major players in the mass computer market are content with the way things are now, adding nearly-insubstantial upgrades every few months for the bleeding-edge-obsessed among us (guilty as charged). This technology, while being amazing and revolutionary, would require a radical change in marketing and production for the Dells and HPs of the world...the average to above-average consumer probably won't see this technology available until YEARS after it is available on a corporate level...and even the heavy corporations won't see this available for even longer until after the military has been using it for awhile...

Of course the minimum-wage earner in Tokyo will probably stop by his/her local electronics store and grab this upgrade tomorrow for half of what we'll pay ten years from now :)

I love the Japanese (NOT sarcasm).

[uclatommy @ Feb 17th 2006 12:51AM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a logic gate built from transistors be faster than one build from magnets? From the article, the logic gates compute binary logic by sending input into a particular configuration of magnetic islands which then creates a domino effect of flipping polarity and the resulting polarity at the end of this chain becomes the output. The particular configuration of the magnetic islands determines what kind of logic gate it is. But since these logic gates rely on the physical movement of the islands, wouldn't that be slower than using transistors since electricity travels at the speed of light, whereas in the magnetic processor, the speed depends on how fast you can flip magnets?

[Jayson A. @ Feb 17th 2006 3:45PM]

Wow, this should be interesting.

[Nobuyuki Idei @ Feb 17th 2006 4:17PM]

Looking at those pictures makes me feel like I'm looking at a Mensa test. Could someone explain the 0 and 1s?

[Hunterdg @ Feb 19th 2006 8:42PM]

..magnetic.. = succeptible to magnetic fields.. so much for non-volatile, or am i missing something?

[Tae @ Nov 8th 2006 6:43PM]

Non-volatile means it will keep its information without power (i.e., hard drive). So it is correct to say this is non-volatile.