Intel demonstrates 1 teraflop from a single chip

Intel has recently showcased the new ‘Knights Ferry’ processor at a supercomputing conference in Seattle. The new chip was demonstrated running in a test machine and is capable of crossing the 1 teraflop mark, or a trillion floating point operations barrier -; something previously restricted to tens of cabinets filled with processors.

To put that into perspective, Intel unveiled the first supercomputer to cross the 1 teraflop mark in 1997. That system was comprised of 9,298 Pentium II processors that filled 72 full-sized cabinets. In comparison, the new 22nm processor, called ‘Knights Ferry’, is about the size of a matchbook and can achieve the same level of performance.

Don’t expect to see these new chips anywhere anytime soon however.  Intel and its partners hope to deliver said systems by 2018.