Russia To Develop Computer That Works at the Speed of Light

Nov. 30—Russian scientists will develop a working prototype of the most powerful hybrid electronic-photonic computing system capable of processing data “at the speed of light.” The project will be carried out by scientists from the National Center for Physics and Mathematics (NCPM) of Russia, NCPM lead researcher Alexander Sergeyev told TASS. Also involved will be the Russian Federal Nuclear Center—Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics and the Samara State University.

“The computing system, which combines electronics and photonics, is intended for super-rapid processing of data using neural network methods based on the optical artificial neural networks. Effectively, it will be a computer, whose co-processors compute at the speed of light. In the next two years, we plan to create a working prototype with processing speed of over 10 to the power of 19 operations per second, which significantly exceeds the current global level,” he said.

Unlike modern computers with their universal processors and graphics processing units, developed by the leading international companies, Sergeyev pointed out, the new system will significantly speed up the solution of a number of tasks—by 100 to 1,000 times—possibly reaching the top level by 2030, all while significantly increasing the energy efficiency.