Miniaturization has been a major goal in the computing world, and by and large it has been achieved successfully. The limits of silicon may be real, but that doesn't mean the benefits of miniaturization are ending anytime soon. The latest example comes from IBM, which has announced the creation of a computer prototype similar to a grain of salt, packing the processing power of a computer from the early '90s.
A computer the size of a grain of salt
Saying that the average smartphone is a pocket computer is no exaggeration. While the format poses some high-profile problems (heat and battery), it would be crazy to deny the excellent work engineers have done in developing systems not much larger than a credit card. Fortunately, laptops and desktops are not far behind, with increasingly thinner and more compact generations. But if we think in terms like "the smallest computer in the world," we must focus our gaze... until we see a simple grain of salt.
Inside the 1 x 1 mm prototype
That brings us to IBM Think 2018, where the big blue presented a computer prototype with a surface area of 1 by 1 millimeter. The design includes "hundreds of thousands" of transistors, a section dedicated to RAM, a communications module, and a photovoltaic cell that handles power. The computer can "analyze, monitor and transmit" data, and IBM envisions applications such as blockchain processing, basic AI tasks, and what IBM calls "crypto anchors", which combined with blockchain technology will help combat counterfeiting and protect the chain of authenticity.
A future of smart objects
Two very interesting aspects of this computer are that it has a capacity similar to that of a system from the '90s, and that its production cost will be below 10 cents. As always, there is still a long way to go before this development reaches the market, but it's not hard to imagine a future in which every label, box, or casing becomes 'smart' thanks to a micro computer.
