IBM develops new chip-making technology

The Cu-32 Custom Logic offering employs IBM technology to dramatically increase the memory capacity and processing speeds of chips used in fiber-optic and wireless networks, and in such gear as routers and switches. The technology can help manufacturers and network operators handle the data deluge driven by consumers' appetites for smart phones and other Web-connected devices. The number of people using the internet has doubled in the past five years, with two billion logging-on in 2010.Smart phones, game consoles, digital TVs, GPS devices and MP3 players are among the consumer gadgets that now ride the internet. As the world's infrastructure gets further digitized, connected and monitored, vast arrays of machine-to-machine sensors are also beginning to use the internet to transmit data on commuter traffic, buildings' energy usage or the health of newborn infants, for example. Manufacturers of communications infrastructure will increasingly need breakthrough semiconductor technologies such as Cu-32 to keep up with the demand to secure, store and move an ever-growing amount of web traffic.