IBM's SyNAPSE chip can simulate the brain

According to foreign media reports, three years later, IBM once again released the SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) chip that can simulate the human brain. Compared with the previous generation prototype, the new chip has reached mass production requirements and has 1 million "neuron" cores, 256 million "synaptic" cores and 4096 "neurosynaptic" cores, while the power is only 70 milliwatts.

The first SyNAPSE chip that can simulate the human brain came out three years ago, but it was only a single-core prototype at the time. In the past three years, IBM has made major upgrades to SyNAPSE, and the number of chip cores has now reached an astonishing 1 million "neuron" cores, 256 million "synapse" cores, and 4096 "neurosynapse" cores, all of which are based on only 70 milliwatts of power.

"70 milliwatts of power" is equivalent to the normal power consumption of a battery-powered hearing aid, according to IBM Chief Scientist Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha. However, in fact, the feat achieved by SyNAPSE is not just limited to these amazing numbers, and the impact it may have on traditional computing methods may be huge.

Because the new SyNAPSE chip may bring disruptive changes to the current human computing system, IBM has specially developed a new programming language for use with it. At the same time, IBM has also launched the SyNAPSE University education program, which has received $53 million in funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Although no official SyNAPSE chip partners have been announced yet, it can be speculated that IBM is in talks with some companies.

IBM has already released a programmable development board with 16 SyNAPSE chips - that is, 16 million neurons, equivalent to the processing power of several traditional computers. However, SyNAPSE requires extremely low power, which is unmatched by traditional computing devices.

As Dr. Modha said, “You can put our development board in a backpack, but you can’t carry four traditional computer racks on your back.”

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.