PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

News: Analysis
It’s time to dump Moore’s Law to
advance computing, researcher says
An end to Moore’s Law will prompt chipmakers to think outside the box, reveals Agam Shah
D
umping Moore’s Law is perhaps
the best thing that could happen to
computers, as it’ll hasten the move
away from an aging computer architecture
holding back hardware innovation.
That’s the view of prominent scientist
R. Stanley Williams, a senior fellow in the
Hewlett Packard Labs. Williams played a
key role in the creation of the memristor
by HP in 2008.
Moore’s Law is an observation made by
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 that
has helped make devices smaller and faster.
It predicts that the density of transistors
would double every 18- to 24 months, while
the cost of making chips goes down.
Every year, computers and mobile
devices that are significantly faster can be
bought with the same amount of money
thanks in part to guidance from Moore’s
Law. The observation has helped drive up
device performance on a predictable basis
while keeping costs down.
But the predictions tied to Moore’s Law
are reaching their limits as it becomes
harder to make chips at smaller geometries.
That’s a challenge facing all top chipmakers
including Intel, which is changing the way
it interprets Moore’s Law as it tries to cling
on to it for dear life.
Williams is the latest to join a growing
cadre of scientists who predict Moore’s
Law is dying. The end of Moore’s Law
“could be the best thing that has happened
to computing in decades,” Williams wrote
in a research paper published in the
latest issue of IEEE Computing in Science
and Engineering.
The end of Moore’s Law will bring
creativity to chip and computer design
and help engineers and researchers think
outside the box, Williams said. The law
has bottled up innovation in computer
design, he hinted.
So what’s next? Williams predicted there
would be computers with a series of chips
and accelerators patched together, much
like the early forms of superfast computers.
Computing could also be memory driven,
with a much faster bus driving speedier
computing and throughput.
The idea of a memory-driven computer
plays to the strength of HPE, which has
built The Machine along those lines. The
initial version of The Machine has persistent
memory that can be used as both DRAM and
flash storage but could eventually be based
on memristor, an intelligent form of memory
and storage that can track data patterns.
Memory-driven computing could also
break down the current architecture-based
and processor-centric domination of the
computer market. In the longer term,
neuromorphic chips designed around the
way the brain works could drive computing.
In the longer term, neuromorphic chips
that are designed around the way the
brain works could drive computing. HPE
is developing a chip designed to mimic
a human brain, and similar chips are
being developed by IBM, Qualcomm, and
universities in the US and Europe.
“Although our understanding of brains
today is limited, we know enough now to
design and build circuits that can accelerate
certain computational tasks,” Williams wrote.
Applications such as machine learning
highlight the need for new types of
processors. IBM has benchmarked its
neuromorphic chip called TrueNorth as
being faster and more power-efficient than
conventional deep-learning chips like GPUs.
Williams suggested ASICs and FPGAs
(field-programmable gate arrays) could
play a role in driving computing beyond
Moore’s Law. These technologies will use
superfast interconnects such as Gen Z,
which was introduced last year and will
be supported by major chipmakers and
server makers, including Dell and Hewlett
Packard Enterprise.
Quantum computers are also emerging
as a way to replace today’s PCs and servers,
but are still decades away from running
everyday applications. J
PhotograPhy: Peter sayer
July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news 15