Intel unveils faster silicon chip
SAN FRANCISCO -- Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor maker, unveiled a breakthrough that may let computers share data faster by making some speed-sapping network equipment unnecessary.
The company said it has invented chips that can encode data onto light beams, enabling chips to transmit data directly onto fiber-optic cable. Intel has developed a semiconductor that sends data at 1 gigahertz, or a billion bits of data a second.
"It could help make the Internet run faster, build much faster high-performance computers and enable high-bandwidth applications like ultrahigh-definition displays or vision-recognition systems," Intel chief technology officer Patrick Gelsinger said in a statement.
Intel invests in research on devices that will improve the speed at which computers and peripheral devices work, to prevent bottlenecks that may negate increases in the performance of its processor chips. The Santa Clara, Calif., company needs to persuade consumers and companies that faster processors will improve their computers, to get buyers to upgrade.
The company's advancement in silicon photonics likely will spark a race to develop products or technology purchases from competitors such as International Business Machines Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., and NEC Corp, which are working on the technology, said Rick Doherty, an analyst at industry researcher Envisioneering Group.
"The first product will probably be out in the next two to three years and will be mainstream before the end of the decade," he said.
Shares of Intel rose 45 cents to $30.99 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.
Intel's Mario Paniccia, the director of silicon photonics research, got the idea from work on systems used to test processors. Silicon is transparent to infrared light, allowing light to pass through and be modified by different voltages within chips.
Doherty said future Intel chips may replace devices made by companies such as Nortel Inc., Siemens AG, and Cisco Systems Inc. that contain many semiconductors.
One use of the new chips may be to link an office filled by computers with high-speed fiber-optic cable, Doherty said.
