China has begun mass production of next-generation processors based on molybdenum disulfide instead of traditional silicon semiconductors[1]. According to Professor Li Hongge’s team at Beihang University, these chips merge binary and stochastic logic to achieve better fault tolerance and power efficiency for applications like touch displays and flight systems[2].

The breakthrough came through developing a Hybrid Stochastic Number (HSN) system that combines traditional binary with probability-based numbers[2:1]. This innovation helps overcome two major challenges in chip technology - the power wall from binary systems’ high energy consumption, and the architecture wall that makes new non-silicon chips difficult to integrate with conventional systems[2:2].


  1. AzerNews - China mass-produces silicon-free chips ↩︎

  2. SCMP - China starts mass production of world’s first non-binary AI chip ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
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    4 hours ago

    It’s only a matter of time until somebody figures out how to mass produce a computing substrate that will make silicon look like vacuum tubes. We don’t need to discover any new physics here. Numerous substrates have been shown to outperform silicon by at least an order of magnitude in the lab. This is simply a matter of allocating resources in a sustained fashioned towards scaling these proofs of concept into mass production, something planned economies happen to excel at.

    • 4am@lemmy.zip
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      3 hours ago

      The United States outsourced our manufacturing, including our manufacturing design and development skill, to China many decades ago. My money’s on China.

      • Fluke@feddit.uk
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        3 hours ago

        All hanging off a Dutch company that makes arguably the most complicated machine the human race has ever built. (EUV lithography is absolutely astounding, when you have even a passing understanding of the tolerances required to make it work.)

        ASML, manufacturer of photolithography machines.

        • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          2 hours ago

          Only for the highest-end, smallest-process chips, and I doubt they’ll be the world leader for much longer.

    • Grapho@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      they’ll find a way for telemetry to use half of it and the start menu another quarter

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 hours ago

      Wom’t make a difference with any current OS, none of those would work with the new arquitecture, way different from the current one. One thing is the new hardware and another is the current lack of any soft or OS for it. Not even DOOM would run in it. Maybe in one or two years it would make sense to change your PC.

      Another alternative to silice are diamonds, there the chips are with the same arquitecture as those from silice, but with the advantage that they support much more heat to the point that they don’t even need refrigeration, apart the electric apabilities of diamond is way better as those from silice, that permits a way higher speed and stability. The price isn’t much higher as the one from normal chips with sythetic diamonds. They are already in use, even with manufactories in Spain.

      • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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        4 minutes ago

        They are already in use, even with manufactories in Spain.

        That’s not a diamond transistor company. They are making diamond wafers to mount to traditional silicon. It’s a heatsink.

        Here’s a good overview of the current state of the art in diamond transistor manufacturing.

        https://youtu.be/NLmd5vL0zmk