Canadian researchers to sell quantum chips by 2008
481157
D-Wave Systems plans to begin selling quantum computers in 2008, pitching them as an adjunct to conventional digital computers, not a replacement for them.
298997
Contract chip maker Chartered  Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. started making microprocessor  chips for Advanced Micro Devices Inc. this month and will begin  shipments as early as July, an industry source told Reuters.
29358
Few people today are buying UMPCs, but a new chip and lower prices could help by early 2008.
370993
British researchers find a way to close a potential flaw in quantum communication systems.
365689
Semiconductor chips that can manage a good bit of their own upkeep are moving closer to reality.
137995
The market for semiconductor  equipment is expected to contract by almost 10 percent in 2008  largely due to lower spending from makers of computer memory,  market research firm Gartner said in a statement on Thursday.
734943
NEC Corp. researchers have developed a quantum cryptography system with sufficient speed and range to make it commercially viable. It could go on sale in the second half of 2005, the researchers said Thursday.
101952
Research work could mean data gets in and out of computer chips at speed of light.
647635
Dutch chipmaker NXP will buy  U.S.-based semiconductor developer GloNav, which specializes in  global positioning system (GPS) chips, for up to $110 million  in cash, it said in a statement on Friday.
153242
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50278)  has announced the addition of Datamonitor's new report: Computer  Hardware in Canada to their offering.
18408
Extended collaboration could result in chips built on 32-nanometer technology.
301104
Hardware expected to begin selling next year is designed to make it faster and more efficient to run Java programs.
733157
Researchers today plan to unveil a silicon-based chip that uses laser light rather than wires to transmit data between chips, The New York Times reported today.
649520
One nanotechnology researcher said supercomputers small enough to fit into the palm of your hand are only 10 or 15 years away."If things continue to go the way they have been in the past few decades, then it's 10 years," said Michael Zaiser, a professor and researcher at the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering and Electronics. "The human brain is very good at working on microprocessor problems, so I think we are close -- 10 years, maybe 15."Zaiser's research into nanowires should help move that timeline along.For the last five years, he has been studying how tiny wires -- 1,000 times thinner than a human hair -- behave when manipulated. He explained that each such miniscule wire tends to behave differently when put under the same amount of pressure. Therefore, it has been impossible to line them up close to each other in tiny microprocessors in a production atmosphere.Zaiser said he's now figured out how to make the wires behave uniformly. He separates the interior material of the wire into distinct groups so the wire can't react as a whole. That makes it much easier to control. "It's like crowd control," he added. "If they can all go one way, you have a big mess."These nanowires will go inside microprocessors that could, in turn, go inside PCs, laptops, cell phones, or even supercomputers. And the smaller the wires, the smaller the chip can be.Shrinking down the microprocessors is a big step toward shrinking down computers.Zaiser was quick to point out that his nanowire discovery won't immediately lead to the development of supercomputers that can fit in the palm of a hand or even shrink down to the size of a book of matches. In addition to smaller microprocessors, engineers will need to deal with thermal fluctuations that erupt at that size.But he does humbly admit that taming nanowires is a big step toward the goal of small supercomputers."This will enable chips to become much smaller," he said. "Think 10 years back. You could hold [a cell phone] the size of a telephone receiver and it didn't work so well. Today, you can fit what is a powerful computer onto a small device."Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT in Hayward, Calif., said that with advances like nanowire technology continuing to come along, Zaiser's predictions for tiny supercomputers may not be so far off. And that will be a huge step for the industry, considering that not so long ago supercomputers filled up enormous rooms or even entire buildings."Actually, what he's saying is not crazy," said King. "The wire problem was an important one. Solving that particular issue, one so fundamental, needed to be done. If he can solve that, a lot of people, a lot of companies, will appreciate that. The industry is aligning in a direction where we're going to be seeing continuing improvements and developments."Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he definitely can see palm-size supercomputers coming out within 10 to 15 years, but he thinks they'll be based on the basic silicon technology used today. He added that the next generation of tiny supercomputers -- made with carbon nanotubes and nanowires -- may be as far off as another 30 to 40 years, though."You know, everybody says we'll get to a physical limit but every time we think we're going to hit it, we overcome it," said McGregor. "They end up being speed bumps instead of road blocks."King added that over the last 10 or 20 years, technology advancements have put smaller and more powerful computers into the hands of children and researchers alike. That leads him to believe that the shrinking of supercomputers is just ahead of us."We're at the beginning of some very exciting times in supercomputing," he said.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
30693
Chips that help a computer's main microprocessors perform specific types of math problems are becoming a big business once again.
652212
A 40-nanometer chip production technique is key to making chips smaller, faster, more powerful, and cheaper to produce.
637016
A method for linking ultraviolet photons is a step toward semiconductor-based quantum computing and communications