World's Smallest Computer

With technology evolving every year, tech giant IBM has provided a glimpse into the not so distant future by recently unveiling the world’s smallest computer.

IBM has unveiled the world’s smallest computer which is “smaller than a grain of salt”, measuring 1 x 1 mm. This tiny speck of technology is also very cheap to manufacture, costing less than ten cents. This device was unveiled at IBM Think 2018 Conference which started in March.

The world’s smallest computer comes with an x86 chip.IBM says that this computer has around 1 million transistors which would require microscopic vision to take a look at it. This tiny computer is capable of monitoring, analysing, communicating and even acting on data. In addition to this, the computer is equipped with SRAM for memory, and a photo-voltaic cell for power. It is also capable of uplink and downlink communication using an LED and a photo detector.

It’s small (about 1mm x 1mm), but it still has the power of a complete computer, albeit not a hot new one. With a few hundred thousand transistors, a bit of RAM, a solar cell and a communications module, it has about the power of a chip from 1990.

Of course at this point it’s very much still a research project in IBM’s labs, not quite a reality; the project is being promoted as part of the company’s “five in five” predictions of turns technology will take in the next five years.