Microchips – their past, present and future

This article has been updated.

Microchips are entering a whole new world of possibility.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and its vast need for power and speed is driving a new generation of microchip innovations. In March 2024, Californian technology corporation Nvidia unveiled an AI chip that can complete tasks 30 times faster than its predecessor.

And now Google has built a "mindboggling" chip that takes just five minutes to complete tasks that would take the world's fastest computers 10 septillion years, reports The Guardian.

It's the latest quantum computing breakthrough and will take us one step closer to a 'quantum economy', which by 2035 could have an value of up to $2 trillion, according to analysis from McKinsey. Currently, more than $40 billion of public sector investments are being ploughed into the technology, according to the World Economic Forum's Quantum Economy Blueprint report.

So, what are microchips and how have they changed our world?

A microchip is a set of electronic circuits on a small, flat silicon wafer, explains semiconductor specialist ASML.

Silicon is hard and brittle, like crystal, and is the second most abundant chemical element on Earth after oxygen. It is made from sand and has unique electrical and thermal properties for chip manufacture.

An important date in the history of the microchip is 1947, when the transistor, a key precursor to the microchip, was invented at Bell Labs, an American telecoms research and development company known for its pioneering innovations.

Transistors are essentially tiny switches that turn electrical currents on or off. Today, a tiny chip can hold many billions of transistors, explains the BBC’s Made on Earth series.

Then in 1958, an electrical engineer at electronics company Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby, created the first integrated circuit. This was a foundational breakthrough for modern microchips, according to electronics news site, Electropages.

Integrated circuits are small electronic chips made up of interconnected components, including transistors.

Another critical innovation followed in 1959 when physicist Robert Noyce developed the first practical integrated circuit, made in one piece, that could be mass-produced.

In the early 1960s, NASA helped to drive the development of microchip technology as an early adopter.

They may all be small, but microchips come in a variety of guises.

General-purpose chips are the workhorses of modern computing, designed to handle a wide range of tasks efficiently. These integrated circuits, such as central processing units (CPUs), contain millions or billions of transistors that can perform various calculations and operations. They are found in devices like personal computers, smartphones and servers.

The evolution of purpose-built chips has led to specialized processors optimized for specific tasks, such as graphics processing units (GPUs) for rendering images and video.

Quantum chips, like Google's Willow, represent the cutting edge of computing technology, harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations that regular computers can either not do, or would take eons to complete.

Neuromorphic chips, also known as brain-inspired chips, aim to mimic the structure and function of biological neural networks. These chips use artificial neurons and synapses to process information in a way that resembles the human brain, often incorporating features like parallel processing, low power consumption, and on-chip memory.

Without microchips, everyday technology – from the internet to handheld calculators – would be the stuff of science fiction, suggests news site Slate.

Microchips have brought increasingly smaller, more powerful and more efficient electronic devices.

For example, ultrasound scanners are typically large machines wheeled around on trolleys in hospitals and clinics. Shrinking microchip technology means they’re now available as pocket-sized mobile devices.

Scientists are unlocking next-generation advances in microchip technology by using particles of light to carry data – instead of electricity.

Boston-based startup Lightmatter, for example, is using light to multiply the processing power and cut the huge energy demand of chips used in AI technologies.

Light is way more energy efficient in transmitting information than electrical signals travelling over wires, the company tells Reuters.

German start-up, Semron, is developing a chip to run AI programs locally on smartphones, earbuds, virtual reality headsets and other mobile devices, explains news site TechCrunch.

Instead of electrical currents to perform calculations – the conventional way that computer chips have worked – Semron’s chips use electrical fields. This cuts the manufacturing cost of the chips and improves their energy efficiency, the company says.

As chips advance, the search for a greener computing paradigm continues to occupy scientists across the globe. An analysis by the Quantum Energy Institute found that quantum computers could provide an advantage when it comes to computing's energy and water use.

The Quantum for Society Challenge seeks to accelerate quantum start-ups creating sustainable impact aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Launched by UpLink, the Quantum Economy Network, and the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Saudi Arabia, it focuses on quantum solutions for climate, healthcare, food systems and more, supporting innovation with funding, ecosystem connections, and product-market fit.

Contribute your innovative ideas to solve the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges and join hands to build the quantum economy together.