Investing in Novel Computing Featured Pattern: P1206 May 2018
Abstracts in this Pattern:
Companies are expressing the need for more computing power to enable technological advancements in nearly every industry, which will enable an increasing number of applications. For example, while speaking at the annual World Economic Forum (Cologny, Switzerland) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018, Microsoft (Redmond, Washington) CEO Satya Nadella claimed that improvements in computing power and new computing technologies are necessary to solve some of the world's most difficult problems. In addition, Nadella mentioned that quantum computing will be an enabler of artificial intelligence (AI). Some tech firms have already taken steps to develop such new computing technologies. For example, Google (Alphabet; Mountain View, California), IBM (Armonk, New York), and Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, California) are all developing advanced quantum-computing hardware that has a greater number of qubits than previous hardware has. Qubits are the quantum analogue of traditional computing's bits, but creating large numbers of qubits is difficult. IBM and Google both developed their own 50-qubit quantum chips, and Intel recently confirmed that it has produced a 49-qubit quantum chip.
Government and intergovernmental organizations are also investing in new computing technologies. For example, the European Commission recently announced the EuroHPC initiative, through which it and several EU member states will invest roughly €1 billion ($1.24 billion) in the development of high-performance computers. The European Commission plans to use the EuroHPC initiative to produce two new supercomputers in Europe that will be among the world's ten fastest. China is also investing in the development of advanced computing technologies. For example, the government of China is planning to build a $2 billion AI research park capable of accommodating 400 companies. Zhongguancun Development Group Co. (Beijing, China)—the state-owned developer of the park—"is hoping to partner with foreign universities and build a 'national-level' AI lab in the area" and aims for the park to attract companies that focus on big data, biometric technologies, cloud computing, and deep learning.
Investments in cutting-edge computing technology may give stakeholders a competitive edge in next-generation computers and related technologies.
The Development of this Pattern
Data Points
- SC-2018-04-04-043
Google, IBM, and Intel Corporation are all developing advanced quantum-computing hardware. - SC-2018-04-04-025
The European Commission recently announced the EuroHPC initiative. - SC-2018-04-04-004
The government of China is planning to build a $2 billion artificial-intelligence research park.
Implications
P1206 — Investing in Novel Computing
Chip manufacturers, tech firms, and governments are investing in the research and development of cutting-edge computing technologies.
Previous Alerts
- SoC290 — Distributed or Consolidated Computing? (February 2008)
Google and Microsoft would like to consolidate the world's computing processes onto their massive server farms. But home-entertainment centers and video-game machines now have storage and processing capabilities that people once associated with national research labs and that enable widely distributed computing processes. Which model is right for what products? - SoC620 — The New Machine Intelligence (November 2012)
As machines become better at learning from data without human supervision and data and processing power continue to grow, software may evolve insights and capabilities beyond the reach of human intelligence. - P0431 — Superfast Computing (December 2012)
New developments in information technology are helping pave the way for computers that perform tasks much more quickly than existing computers can. - P0624 — The Next Wave of Computing (April 2014)
Novel computing approaches could drive a flood of new applications and substantially improve existing ones. - SoC857 — Guesswork Computing (March 2016)
Many big-data applications are only engaging in guesswork and approximations—albeit kinds of guesswork that are very different from those that rely on human reasoning. - SoC926 — Quantum Computing's Security Disruption (February 2017)
Researchers hope that the principles of quantum physics will enable radical innovations in computer architectures. - SoC985 — Artificial Intelligence Is Alien Intelligence (December 2017)
Companies and individuals should not equate artificial intelligence's humanlike capabilities with humanlike thought processes. - P1193 — Expanding Digitalization (April 2018)
Although automation receives much attention, digital technologies that augment work are having a greater impact.