US scientists createсmicrochip for AI calculations performed at the speed of light

Engineers from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States have developed an innovative microchip that uses light waves instead of electricity for complex mathematical calculations. The research on this topic has been published in the scientific journal Nature Photonics.

According to the creators, their silicon-photon (SiPh) processor is the first of its kind. It can perform matrix-vector multiplication, a fundamental mathematical operation in the development and functioning of neural networks used in artificial intelligence technologies.

The engineers emphasized that they achieved these results by utilizing the non-uniform thickness of the chip's plate, varying it within 150 nanometers in specific areas. This approach allows them to control the scattering of light in certain patterns without adding additional materials.

According to the scientists, the device is capable of conducting complex calculations at nearly the speed of light. Additionally, the processor's architecture provides almost complete protection against cyber attacks because the chip does not need to unload confidential information into the computer's working memory. This is achieved through parallel computing.

One of the authors of the development, Assistant Professor Firouzeh Aflatouni, explained, "No one can hack into non-existent memory to access your information."