Today’s Spotlight features a conceptual illustration by Christine Daniloff/MIT News of a multi-core chip.
For the last decade or so, computer chip manufacturers have been increasing the speed of their chips by giving them extra processing units, or “cores.” Most major manufacturers now offer chips with eight, 10 or even 12 cores.
But if chips are to continue improving at the rate we’ve grown accustomed to — doubling in power roughly every 18 months — they’ll soon require hundreds and even thousands of cores. Read more.
For the last decade or so, computer chip manufacturers have been increasing the speed of their chips by giving them extra processing units, or “cores.” Most major manufacturers now offer chips with eight, 10 or even 12 cores.
But if chips are to continue improving at the rate we’ve grown accustomed to — doubling in power roughly every 18 months — they’ll soon require hundreds and even thousands of cores. Read more.
