Apart from the business shelf that develops and produces products such as Intel processors, what kind of research is Intel Labs, a department that conducts pioneering research in advanced fields such as quantum computers and silicon photonics?
Intel is a semiconductor company known for its core processors, but it is also conducting research on pioneering fields such as quantum computers as well as semiconductors. In general, research conducted by companies is premised on productization for 1 to 3 years, but some studies have a long cycle looking ahead 10 to 20 years. In the case of Intel, Intel Labs is a research institute that specializes in long-term research.
Dr. Richard A. Uhlig, who leads Intel Labs, led the Intel Lab Systems and Software Research Team from 2013 to 2018, including virtualization technology, cloud computing systems, software defined networks, big data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more. He is a person who led extensive research.
He said what Intel Labs is doing is exploring the future of Intel and pursuing disruptive technologies that will change the way we do business in the future. The scope of the study is everything related to the circuit.
In addition, Intel has its own processor development department, and Intel Labs also creates processor prototypes or uses fabrication facilities, but most of the research is independent of the processor. Intel Labs mainly focuses on new innovations in software, how to construct systems, and attempts to reorganize at the component level.
Intel Labs has 700 Ph. In addition, in-house research is also closely linked with researchers from world-class universities.
Intel Labs held its own event, Intel Labs Day in December 2020, with Integrated Photonics, Neuromorphic Computing, Confidential Computing, and Quantum Computing. , Machine Programming, and five major fields.
Dr. Ulrig said that what was introduced as a lecture at the event was not all that Intel Labs is researching, and that what Intel Labs is doing is mainly the whole new computing model. In addition, since the industry has recently focused on improving the energy efficiency of AI algorithms such as neural networks, Intel is also conducting research to improve the AI algorithm workload. In addition, we are investing heavily in advanced storage and memory technologies, new sensing technologies, connectivity technologies, silicon photonics, wireless technologies, millimeter wave communication, and wireless communication systems after 5G and 6G. He explains that he is also focusing on improvement.
He said about Intel’s sale of the modem business to Apple, that modems are endpoints and embedded in devices, but Intel is betting on building a 5G infrastructure. He said he was reviewing.
Among the technologies developed by Intel Labs, the most popular technologies are USB and Thunderbolt. Dr. Ulrig said that Thunderbolt was developed based on the vision that the various input/output connector types should be integrated so that multiple protocols can be treated the same with one connector. He also revealed virtualization technology as a success story. He said that although he has been an engineer at Intel Lab for 15 years, he has been working on initial proposals for virtualization technology and research on processors or platforms to facilitate virtualization, and this was the birth of Intel virtualization technology.
Intel announced that it will continue to hold an Intel Lab Day event every year to focus on publicizing its efforts to the outside world. Related information can be found here.