February** Dynamic Incentive Program
Have you ever worried that your computer, mobile phone or smart device will be hacked, resulting in your privacy leakage, data loss or system crash? Have you ever wondered how great it would be if there was a chip that could make your device immune like the human body, able to automatically identify and defend against external threats, while also increasing computing speed and reducing energy consumption?
This is not science fiction, but a technological innovation that is becoming a reality. Recently, a new type of AI chip appeared on the cover of Nature Photonics, which uses light instead of electricity to perform complex calculations, thus enabling efficient, energy-saving, and safe AI computing. This chip is calledSilicon photonic chips, was developed by engineers at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, and for the first time combines Benjamin Franklin Medalist Nader Enkhta's pioneering research on manipulating materials at the nanoscale with a silicon photonic platform.
Silicon photonic chips are based on the principle of using the interaction of light waves with matter to perform mathematical calculations, rather than traditional electronic signals. Light waves have the characteristics of high-speed transmission, high frequency, and low energy consumption, which can realize efficient mathematical calculations, such as matrix multiplication, vector operations, etc., which are the core operations of AI algorithms. The silicon photonic platform is a technology that uses silicon-based materials to manufacture optoelectronic devices, which has the advantages of high integration, low cost and high photoelectric conversion efficiency, and can realize the transmission, modulation and detection of light waves.
The advantages of silicon photonic chips are threefold:
Faster。Silicon photonic chips can perform mathematical calculations at the speed of light, far exceeding the speed of traditional electronic chips. According to the researchers, silicon photonic chips can complete 1 billion matrix multiplication operations in one second, while the same task takes 30 minutes on an average CPU and 2 on a GPU8 seconds. This means that silicon photonic chips can greatly increase the speed at which AI algorithms can run, resulting in faster data processing and information feedback.
Lower energy consumption。Silicon photonic chips consume only a fraction of the energy of traditional electronic chips, because light waves generate almost no heat during transmission, while electronic signals generate a lot of heat, requiring additional heat dissipation equipment and energy consumption. According to the researchers, silicon photonic chips consume only 03 watts, while the same task requires 69 watts on a normal CPU and 200 watts on a GPU. This means that silicon photonic chips can significantly reduce the energy consumption of AI computing, enabling more environmentally friendly and economical AI computing.
Safer higher。Silicon photonic chips also have privacy advantages because it can be achievedActive Immune Trusted Computing。Active immune trusted computing is a new computing mode that carries out immune security protection while performing calculations, and can identify "self" and "non-self" components in time, so that attackers cannot exploit defects and vulnerabilities to perform illegal operations on the system and achieve the expected computing goals. In addition, because many calculations can be performed simultaneously, there is no need to store sensitive information in the computer's working memory, which makes computers with silicon photonic chips virtually impossible to hack.
The emergence of silicon photonic chips has opened up new possibilities for the development of AI computing and brought new convenience to our lives. Imagine if your mobile phone, computer or smart device uses silicon photonic chips, you can enjoy faster running speed, lower energy consumption, and higher security, what else do you have to worry about?
Of course, the research and application of silicon photonic chips are still in their infancy, and further optimization and improvement are needed before they can be commercialized and popularized. However, we have reason to believe that with the advancement of science and technology, silicon photonic chips will bring us more surprises and innovations, let's look forward to it!