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IBM preps for a post-silicon world

IBM's decision to get out of the semiconductor manufacturing business may be of little consequence in a post-silicon world.
In a deal announced today, GlobalFoundries is getting IBM's semiconductor manufacturing business and IBM is paying the company $1.5 billion to take it. In exchange, IBM gets access to manufacturing scale it does not have.

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IBM's latest weak quarter, also announced Monday, clouds the manufacturing exit. CEO Ginni Rometty all but apologized for the slack earnings. But that doesn't change the fact that silicon is reaching its performance limits and there's no clear replacement.
IBM is one of the few global companies with the resources to figure out what comes next.
In announcing the GlobalFoundries deal, IBM said it has no plans to cut its planned $3 billion investment in semiconductor technology research over the next five years. The bigger issue is whether it is spending enough to extend silicon technologies and, ultimately, replace them.
In July, IBM detailed plans to invest in quantum computing, as well as brain-like emulation system called neurosynaptic computing. It is also investigating new materials to replace and extend silicon, including carbon nanotubes and graphene.
"A lot of our research focuses on post silicon," Arvind Krishna, general manager of IBM's manufacturing & development, said in an interview.
IBM is working on 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer chip designs -- and beyond -- but as size shrinks and silicon transistors near the point of physical limitation, manufacturing gets more expensive.
Silicon still has a ways to go, and IBM is researching how to get more use out of it by combining it with other materials. "Different materials may be able to extend silicon," said Krishna.
Solving the problem of what comes next isn’t just IBM’s problem, according to said Nathan Brookwood, a semiconductor industry analyst at Insight 64. “The stakes are not only high for IBM, the stakes are high for the entire semiconductor industry,” he said.
There is general agreement that silicon chips will reach their limit at about 7 nanometers, about a decade from now. But Brookwood said nothing is ever certain, and you can’t count out the possibility that someone will figure out a way to extend the technology another decade.
On the question of whether IBM is spending enough on research, Brookwood points to companies such as Intel and Samsung, which are also investing on extending silicon's usefulness. If one of these companies doesn’t develop a breakthrough, “then it’s not just IBM that’s in trouble, it’s the entire semiconductor industry,” he said.
For users of IBM's mainframe and Power-based systems, the deal with GlobalFoundries changes nothing, said Krishna.

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"Given that all the design, all the software, all the operating systems, all of the firmware and all of the other system advantages that we put in remain with IBM, my basic answer would be it does not impact our mainframe, or power system or our storage clients at all," he said.
Matt Eastwood, an analyst at IDC, said the deal makes sense because of the changing economics of the semiconductor manufacturing business. "The cost of semiconductor manufacturing is going to continue to increase, making it a business where scale will matter more and more going forward," said Eastwood.
IBM has been working to increase adoption of its Power architecture. Last year, it formed the OpenPower Consortium, which made Power hardware and software available for open development. The goal is expand use of this architecture.
Global Foundries "also hopes that IBM's focus on growing the OpenPower ecosystem will create new demand for semiconductor manufacturing services," said Eastwood.
Krishna said GlobalFoundries' manufacturing capability will also help. "Over time, you will get the at-scale manufacturing that actually assures the longer-term sustainability of these systems," he said.
GlobalFoundries was created when AMD's manufacturing arm was spun off. The company operates in the U.S. and is headquartered here, but its majority owner is Abu Dhabi.

Google finally decides to demote ‘notorious’ piracy sites in search results

 This week, Google is rolling out changes to its search engine that will “visibly affect” the rankings of “notorious” sites that enable the downloading or streaming of pirated music, movies, and TV shows. In the place of these unofficial or illegal links — which often rank above legal, commercial sites — Google will now show direct links to Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and other “official” sites. Furthermore, Google will more aggressively prune the results that pop up via autocomplete so that they’re in-line with DMCA takedown notices (i.e. Google will no longer prompt you with “free download” when you start typing the name of a movie).
Almost since the advent of BitTorrent, Google has often been referred to as the best search engine for finding music, TV shows, movies, and whatever other pirated goods you might be after. It isn’t that Google intentionally set out to be a brilliant search engine for illegal downloads, it was just a simple matter of Google’s trawlers, indexers, and algorithms being very good at their job. The RIAA, BPI, MPAA, ESA and various other associations/lobbies have long criticized Google for not being more proactive in demoting these results from the first few pages — and it has only become a bigger issue as newer, easier-to-use methods, such as streaming and downloading from file lockers, surged in popularity over the last few years.

Google, suggesting I download Sons of Anarchy for free

Well, Google is finally going to do something about it. In a post on its Public Policy Blog, the company’s senior copyright counsel has outlined a number of new measures. First, sites that receive a lot of DMCA takedowns — i.e. letters sent by rightsholders to Google, asking for a page be removed from the index — will now be demoted. As a result, “the most notorious sites” will move further down the search results (though it isn’t yet clear how far they will go). Second, DMCA notices will affect the autocomplete terms that pop up when you’re searching for stuff — i.e. in some cases, Google will no longer suggest that you download stuff for free. (Again, there’s no word on how extensive this change will be.)
And finally, and perhaps most weirdly and aggressively, Google is creating a new ad box that appears when you search for “download”, “free,” “watch,” and other terms that suggest you might be looking to watch a TV show or movie without paying. This ad box will show links to Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, Hulu, or any other “official” site that has the TV show/movie/song in question. The catch: These companies will have to pay for the ad.

Google is also trialing a new right-hand panel with commercial/legal options, to curb piracy

Speaking to the BBC, the BPI — the British music lobby — was “broadly” happy with Google’s changes, but was amusingly indignant about rightsholders having to pay for top-of-the-bill listing. “There should be no cost when it comes to serving consumers with results for legal services.”
Read: Google’s out-of-control copyright bots are making a mockery of the DMCA
While it’s hard to be critical of Google’s anti-piracy measures, they do come across as a little heavy-handed. In general, if someone wants to pirate something, they’re going to pirate it, even if they have to click through a couple of pages of search results. As always, piracy is popular because some publishers and rightsholders make it really painful to easily and safely obtain your favorite TV show, movie, or game. There is a reason that easy-to-use services like Netflix, Spotify, and Steam are growing in popularity as their catalogs swell — most people do actually want to spend their money on things that they enjoy, and that they can afford.
Google’s new ad box will increase awareness that pay-for alternatives do exist, which is a good thing — I’m sure there are at least a few people who pirate stuff just because they don’t know that Amazon Prime is bundled with Amazon Instant Video — but let’s hope it stops there. Manipulating search results in favor of commercial interests isn’t a good thing, especially when it’s scaled up to affect more than just piracy.