A research team led by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in partnership with National University of Singapore (NUS) has created an innovative microelectronic device that can potentially function as a sustainable, high-performance “bit-switch” . This paves the way for future Computing technologies to process data much faster while using significantly less energy.

By harnessing tiny, stable and speedy magnetic whirls called skyrmions, the device can operate using 1,000 times less power than commercial Memory Technologies. This discovery was reported in the scientific journal Nature on 21 March 2024.

The need for more sustainable and efficient AI computing

Emerging AI technologies such as ChatGPT require large amounts of data to be processed at blazing speeds, which draw on immense computing power. Infocomm technologies already consume nearly 20 per cent  of global electricity, which is set to spike even further with the growth of such large AI models. To meet these rapidly growing demands, the fundamental computing “switch”, or memory-bit , has been scaled down to ever-smaller sizes, and is approaching its physical limits. 

A prominent approach to mitigate this energy crisis, especially for mobility, healthcare and manufacturing domains, is edge computing. Here, data is processed within individual appliances, such as phones, smart home appliances and vehicles, rather than in power-intensive large-scale data centres. However, edge appliances are presently unable to perform complex computational tasks due to limited computing capacity and power constraints. There is a pressing need to develop a radically different microelectronic platform in order to achieve efficient and sustainable AI computing.