IBM creates the world's first 2nm chip in test lab

IBM has fit 20 billion more transistors onto a chip than it achieved with 7nm tech in 2017

IBM claims to have taken a major step forward in semiconductor technology by creating the world ' s first 2nm chip, achieving higher performance than existing 7nm chips and consuming less power.

IBM's 2nm nanosheet technology squeezes about 50 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail. The company claims a performance boost of 45 per cent at the same power as 7nm chips, and can achieve the same performance for 75 per cent less energy.

When IBM announced its 5nm breakthrough in 2017, it was able to squeeze about 30 billion transistors into the same space.

"The IBM innovation reflected in this new 2nm chip is essential to the entire semiconductor and IT industry," said Darío Gil, SVP and Director of IBM Research.

"It is the product of IBM's approach of taking on hard tech challenges and a demonstration of how breakthroughs can result from sustained investments and a collaborative R&D ecosystem approach."

IBM expects its 2nm technology - developed at its Albany research lab in the USA - to ' quadruple ' mobile phone battery life, with phones needed to be charged every four days.

While IBM ' s latest breakthrough is notable, it will take some time before 2nm chips are widely available for commercial use. The company first demonstrated its 7nm process in 2015, but AMD's 7nm-based Ryzen processors didn't become available until 2019.

Other chip makers, such as TSMC and Intel, are working on plans to build ultra-low nm chip plants in the coming years.

"IBM's long-term focus and investment in research is a core reason for our technology leadership in semiconductors, enterprise systems, hybrid cloud, AI, quantum, and security," Darío Gil said.

"As we race toward 3 nanometer technology and beyond, leveraging the IBM Research semiconductor ecosystem and technology will be critical to meeting the growing needs of the United States and the world," he added.

Putting 7nm to work

IBM ' s new 2nm chip breakthrough comes about two months after its announcement of the world's first AI accelerator chip based on 7nm technology.

The company said in February that the four-core chip is optimised for low-precision workloads with a range of machine learning and AI models.

The chip supports a number of model types while achieving 'superior' power efficiency, the tech giant claimed. It added that the technology can be 'easily' scaled and used for different commercial applications, such as large-scale model training in the cloud, security, etc.

IBM doesn't have a foundry offering of its own. Instead, it develops IP in collaboration with others for their production facilities. The company sold its manufacturing to GlobalFoundries in 2014, with a 10-year partnership commitment. It also works with Samsung.

In March, IBM announced a research collaboration with Intel to advance next-generation logic and packaging technologies. The firm said at the time that the aim of the new partnership would be 'accelerate semiconductor manufacturing innovation across the ecosystem, enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry and support key U.S. government initiatives.'