Electronics

According to reports, IBM yesterday released the world's first 2nm chip manufacturing technology. Compared with the mainstream 7-nanometer chips currently used in many notebook computers and mobile phones, 2 nanometer chips are 45% faster in computing speed and 75% more energy efficient.

IBM, once a major chip manufacturer, has now outsourced a large amount of its chip production to Samsung Electronics. But there is still a chip manufacturing research center in Albany, New York. The center is responsible for trial operation of the chip, and has signed a joint technology development agreement with Samsung and Intel to use IBM's chip manufacturing technology.

2nm chips will be smaller and faster than the current leading 5nm chips. 5nm chips have appeared in high-end smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone 12. After the 5-nanometer chip, the 3-nanometer chip is expected to debut. The 2 nanometer chip manufacturing technology released by IBM today is currently in a leading position in the world.

The technology IBM demonstrated today is the most basic component of the chip: the transistor. It acts like an electronic switch, forming the binary digits 1 and 0 on the basis of all modern calculations. Making "switches" very small will make them faster and more power efficient, but it will also cause problems such as electronic leakage, which IBM's 2nm technology has overcome.

IBM Research Director Darío Gil said: "In the final analysis, it is transistors. Everything else in the computing field depends on whether transistors get better. But there is no guarantee that transistors will advance from generation to generation. Therefore, Whenever more advanced transistors appear, this is a big deal."

Of course, it may take several years for IBM's 2nm chip manufacturing technology to be introduced to the market.