When you’re typing on your keyboard or swiping on your smartphone, computer chips make all of that possible.
Computer chip
A computer chip is a small piece of material, usually silicon, that has an electronic circuit embedded in it. This circuit is made up of millions of tiny components called transistors, which act like miniature electrical switches. These switches can turn on or off, allowing the chip to process information and perform calculations.
A computer chip is often used to refer specifically to the microchips used in computers, such as the central processing unit (CPU) or memory chips. A microchip (also called a chip, a computer chip, an integrated circuit or IC) is a set of electronic circuits on a small flat piece of silicon. It can refer to any type of integrated circuit including microprocessors, memory chips, logic chips, and even system-on-a-chip devices.
There are several types of computer chips, each with different functionalities:
- Microprocessor Chips. These are the central processing units (CPUs) that perform most of the processing inside computers and other devices.
- Memory Chips. These chips store data and programs while they are being used, and come in several forms such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and flash memory.
- Logic Chips. These chips perform basic operations such as AND, OR, NOT, and XOR operations. They are the building blocks of digital circuits.
- Application-Specific Integrated Chips (ASICs). These chips are custom-built for a specific application, rather than for general-purpose use.
Each type of chip has a specific role in the functioning of a computer system or electronic device.
System-on-a-chip (SoC)
A system-on-a-chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit that combines most or all components of a computer (or other electronic system) – including a central processing unit (CPU), memory interfaces, input/output devices and interfaces, and secondary storage interfaces, and other components such as radio modems (for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) and a graphics processing units (GPUs) – on a single substrate or microchip.
The concept of fitting an entire system onto a single microchip first became a reality in the 1970s and, according to the Computer History Museum, the first system on a chip appeared in an LCD watch in 1974.
Though coming at the cost of reduced component replaceability, compared to traditional, multi-chip architecture, an SoC with equivalent functionality will have a smaller footprint and reduced power consumption.
Because SoCs enable the manufacture of computers that are smaller, faster, and less power-hungry, they are common in mobile and edge computing devices, such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and in embedded systems, such as video game consoles and the systems that control the flight of drones.
An important capability of SoCs is that they allow compute intensive tasks to be executed locally or “on device.”
Without the need to rely on cloud or external servers for processing, SoC devices avoid issues of latency, speed, security, and reliability.
This makes them key to enabling new capabilities such as on device AI.
"The new technology of microchips and computer software is learned much faster than the old technology of coal and iron.” - Dr. Freeman John Dyson, British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician