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The brain chip http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6197/614.summary #Neuromorphic #computers overcome bottlenecks in classic von Neumann architecture

QT:{{"…consists of 20,000 chips, each of which represents 1000 neurons. This fall, Furber says, he expects that number will rise to 100,000 chips representing 100 million neu-rons, and eventually a 1-million-chip system representing 1 billion neurons—about 1% of the neurons in the human brain

All computer chips made today rely on the same general architecture that was outlined nearly 70 years ago. This architecture separates the two primary tasks a chip needs to carry out—processing and memory—into different regions and continuously communicates data back and forth. Though this strategy works well for crunching numbers and running spreadsheets, it’s much less efficient for handling tasks that manage vast amounts of data, such as vision and language processing. But in recent years, researchers around the globe have been pursuing a new approach called neuromorphic computing. On page 668 of this issue, researchers at IBM and Cornell University report creating the world’s first production-scale neuromorphic computing chip. The novel approach to hardware is made up of 5.4 billion transistors that are wired to emulate a brain with 1 million "neurons" that talk to one another via 256 million "synapses."

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