Why Intel Sees Its Future In Heterogeneous Computing
In 1936, Alan Turing’s published a breakthrough paperdescribing a universal computer which could be programmed to do any task. Essentially, he argued that rather than having different machines for different tasks, a single machine, using a system of ones and zeroes, could be programmed to do any task.
Today, we can see Turing’s vision writ large. Digital technology pervades just about everything we do, from producing documents to navigating the physical world. Although the basic technology has evolved from vacuum tubes to transistors to integrated circuits, modern computers are essentially scaled up versions of that initial idea.
Yet even the most powerful ideas have their limits. While it is true that digital computers can perform almost any informational task, the technology is approaching theoretical barriers and we can no longer rely on a single technology to power the future. At Intel, scientists are working to create a new vision in which computing is no longer universal, but heterogeneous.
Intel’s Challenge
Few companies have benefited from Turing’s vision than Intel. In 1959, the company’s co-founder Robert Noyce helped pioneer the integrated circuit. In 1965, Gordon Moore came up with his eponymous law that predicted that the number of transistors on a microchip would double every two years. For half a century, the company has prospered by cramming more and more transistors onto silicon wafers.
Yet every technology eventually hits theoretical limits and that’s where Moore’s law stands today. There are physical limits to the number of transistors that can fit in a limited space and how fast we can send information through them. We will likely hit these limits in the next 5–10 years.
As a general rule, businesses that owe their success to a single idea or technology don’t survive past its relevance. Kodak, despite what many assume, invested significant resources in digital photography, but couldn’t replace the enormous profits it made from developing film. When Xerox’s copier business was disrupted, the company lost its dominance. The list goes on.
The odds would seem to be stacked against Intel, but the company has embarked on a multi-decade plan to rise to even…
