What would you call a processor with 1,000 cores? You guessed it right. Kilocore. Researchers at UC Davis have developed one which could be powered by an AA battery!
According to PC World, the processor was built by IBM using its 32 nm CMOS fabrication technology, a technique the industry outgrew years ago; manufacturers are trying to achieve 7 nm fabrication while 14 nm fabrication is now the standard. However, a 1,000 core processor is record for all purposes given that consumers are still using computers with 10-core processors (Intel's flagship).
"To the best of our knowledge, it is the world's first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university," said Bevan Baas, professor of electrical and computer engineering, who led the team that designed the processor.
KiloCore can perform a maximum 1.78 trillion instructions per second, which is much higher than any processor out there. It is also highly energy efficient as the cores are independent and can be shutdown when not in use; for instance, while performing 115 billion instructions per second the chip gives off only 0.7 watts, an efficiency much higher than modern day laptop processors which operate with fewer faster cores.
Applications that KiloCore can be used for include scientific number crunching, encryption and video processing, applications that require large amounts of simultaneously data processing.
While KiloCore exists only in the hands of researchers and is unlikely to find its way onto consumer shelves, it will remain the record holder for possessing the largest number of cores for a very long time to come; the previous record holder boasted 300 cores.
