• Probabilistic Computing for AI - Intel is promoting research into incorporating probabilistic computing into real-world AI systems such as autonomous vehicles.
• White House forms AI Panel with Industry Summit - The US Office of Science and Technology Policy sponsored a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, which met recently with US Industry Leaders in the field.
• National Machine Intelligence Strategy - The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies together with Booz-Allen Hamilton presented a new report promoting a strategic plan for application of machine intelligence in government and industry.
• New Computing Research Center at University of Virginia - Center for Research in Intelligent Storage and Processing-in-Memory (CRISP) sponsored by DARPA and Semiconductor Research Corporation.
• US Department of Energy Announces Plans to Acquire 3 Exascale Computers - Systems to be delivered by 2023 at Oak Ridge, Livermore, and Argonne National Laboratories.
• Patterson and Hennessey win Turing Award for RISC Processors - Approach developed in 1980s still dominates modern microprocessors.
• IARPA program on Molecular Information Storage - New US government research program in nanoscale data storage and retrieval, including biological systems.
• Stochastic Computing in a Single Device - Minnesota researchers demonstrate magnetic tunnel junction which processes logic using random bits.

Roadmapping Cryogenic Electronics and Quantum Information Processing

The IEEE International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) has just released its 2017 roadmap which focuses primarily on extensions of conventional electronic technologies, but also covers newly developing technologies in its Chapter on Beyond CMOS (PDF, 3 MB).

One group of new technologies is forming its own International Focus Group, on Cryogenic Electronics and Quantum Information Processing. Committee members Scott Holmes and Erik DeBenedictis have summarized the case for roadmapping these technologies here (PDF, 378 KB).

These technologies include superconducting electronic circuits that require cryogenic temperatures less than 100 K, and often less than 10 K. In addition cryogenic semiconducting circuits have been developed for certain specialized applications. Both of these are generally mature technologies with integration on the intermediate scale, but not yet at the very large scale that would be needed for direct competition with room-temperature CMOS.

A distinct set of technologies are associated with the new field of quantum information processing, which may require temperatures less than 1 K for proper operation. Some of these are also based on superconducting devices, but operate in a regime of ultra-low power dissipation necessary for quantum operation.

For both superconducting and quantum circuits, the industry and the market are still small, but are likely to grow rapidly in the next 20 years. Roadmapping and standards are particularly important if these technologies are to achieve the ambitious goals that have been projected.

IEEE Low-Power Image Recognition Challenge

LPIRC 2018, sponsored by IEEE Rebooting Computing, is being held June 18, 2018, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. For a video overview of LPIRC, see here.

This is the 4^th in a series of annual open competitions, with prizes for the best combination of accuracy, speed, and low power for image recognition. Co-located with Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR 2018). For further details on LPIRC, see here.

LPIRC 2018 is being co-sponsored by Google and Facebook, which have helped to define dedicated tracks. LPIRC 2019 is in the planning stages. If you or your company would like to participate in the planning or sponsor competitive tracks next year, please contact Terence Martinez (t.c.martinez@ieee.org).

• Rebooting Computing Video Overview
• IEEE Future Directions
• ICRC 2018 Call for Papers
• Computing in Science and Engineering on the End of Moore's Law
• IEEE Journal of Exploratory Solid-State Computational Devices and Circuits (JXCDC)
• Arch2030 Workshop Report
• TTM 2016 Videos
• Workshop on Neuromorphic Computing
• Workshop on Beyond CMOS Technology
• Update on National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI)
• RC White Paper on Nanocomputers
• IEEE Computer Magazine on Rebooting Computing
• RC-ITRS Report on the Foundation of the New Computer Industry Beyond 2020