INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightCerebras SystemsImage caption
The Wafer Scale Engine is the world's largest computer chip
A Californian-based start-up has unveiled what it says is the world's largest computer chip.The Wafer Scale Engine, designed by Cerebras
Systems, is slightly bigger than a standard iPad.The firm says a single chip can drive complex artificial intelligence (AI) systems in
everything from driverless cars to surveillance software.However, one expert suggested that the innovation would prove impractical to
install in many data centres.Image copyrightCerebras SystemsImage caption
The chip measures 21.5cm sq (3.3in sq)
Why is the development important?Computer chips have generally become smaller and faster over the years.Dozens are typically
manufactured on a single silicon "wafer", which is then cut apart to separate them from each other.The most powerful desktop CPUs (central
processing units) have about 30 processor cores - each able to handle their own set of calculations simultaneously.GPUs (graphics processing
units) tend to have more cores, albeit less powerful ones.This has traditionally made them the preferred option for artificial intelligence
processes that cans be broken down into several parts and run simultaneously, where the outcome of any one calculation does not determine
the input of another.Examples include speech recognition, image processing and pattern matching
The most powerful GPUs have as many as 5,000 cores.But Cerebras' new chip has 400,000 cores, all linked to each other by high-bandwidth
connections.The firm suggests this gives it an advantage at handling complex machine learning challenges with less lag and lower power
requirements than combinations of the other options.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
A typical silicon wafer
houses around 100 computer chips
Cerebras claims the Wafer Scale Engine will reduce the time it takes to process some
complex data from months to minutes.Its founder and chief executive Andrew Feldman said the company had "overcome decades-old technical
challenges" that had limited chip size."Reducing training time removes a major bottleneck to industry-wide progress," he said.Cerebras has
started shipping the hardware to a small number of customers.It has not yet revealed how much the chips cost.Image copyrightCerebras
SystemsImage caption
A worker inspects the chips as they are manufactured
What are the
disadvantages?While the chips process information much faster, Dr Ian Cutress, senior editor at the news site AnandTech, said the advances
in technology would come at a cost
"One of the advantages of smaller computer chips is they use a lot less power and are easier to keep cool," he explained."When you start to
deal with bigger chips like this, companies need specialist infrastructure to support them, which will limit who can use it
practically."That's why it's suited for artificial intelligence development as that's where the big dollars are going at the
moment."Image copyrightCerebras SystemsImage caption
A close-up of the Wafer Scale Engine being manufactured
Is this the first AI-chip?Cerebras is far from the first company to develop chips to power AI systems.In 2016, Google developed TPU
(tensor processing unit) chips to power software including its language translation app, and now sells the technology to third parties.The
following year, China's Huawei announced that its smartphone Kirin chips had gained an NPU (neural processing unit) to help speed up the
calculation of matrix multiplications - a type of mathematics commonly involved in AI tasks.But not all such efforts have been successful.In
the early 1980s, the US company Trilogy received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to create its own super-chip.However, the
processors got too hot in testing and were less powerful than initially thought.Plagued by technical and personal challenges, the company
gave up on the project five years later.
