What connects Chips, China and Colossus?

What was the computer chips first word when it was made? Da-ta :/

We’ve been hearing “data is the new oil“ for years now, but the real power lies with silicon chips and in the first edition of “Just the Flax”, our very own Chief Flaxer, will explain why.

Just to confirm, this blog is all about chips, of the computer kind, not the California Highway Patrol or the fried fast food.

The United States Congress recently passed the CHIPs and Science Act, but the silver screen had already predicted a dystopian vision of what may happen…

Film Fact is stranger than Silicon Fiction

It is almost 40 years since a View to a Kill was released, in what marked Roger Moore’s seventh and final appearance as Bond.

A film made famous by the Durran Durran soundtrack as Bond grappled villains on the Eiffel Tower and all the way across the pond, to Silicon Valley. The MI6 agent was battling the dastardly Max Zorin, expertly played by Christoper Walken.

The opening sequence sees James Bond sent to Siberia to locate the body of 003 and recover a Soviet microchip. Quartermaster in residence, Q then analyses the microchip, establishing it to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, made by government contractor Zorin Industries. This sets off the inevitable chain of events, intermixed with exotic locations and stunts in classic Bond style.

Zorin was fixated with the master plan of destroying Silicon Valley… we all know what happened next as Bond sails off in a blimp over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

I didn’t understand the implications of the technology when I watched this in the late 80’s.

WW2 and Tech

The UK actually had global prominence at the end of WW2 in computing, something the grey beards no doubt regret now when they let go many of the employees (who were female) and thus allowing a new entrant to take up the number 1 spot in the world. The US took over and Silicon Valley became the hotbed for computer technology.

One of the technological advances that made a positive impact on the war for the Allies was the Colossus computer.

The Colossus computer was a pioneering technological marvel of its time. Developed during World War II, specifically between 1943 and 1945, the Colossus was the world's first programmable electronic computer. Its primary purpose was to decipher encrypted German messages, providing invaluable intelligence to the Allied forces. Designed by a team led by British engineer Tommy Flowers, the Colossus utilized vacuum tubes, which were state-of-the-art electronic components back then. These vacuum tubes allowed the machine to perform complex calculations at an impressive speed.

With its ability to rapidly process data and decipher codes, the Colossus played a crucial role in the success of the Allied forces, greatly contributing to the eventual outcome of the war. Its ground-breaking design and remarkable computational power laid the foundation for future advancements in computing technology, setting the stage for the modern digital era.

Ed @ ETSI / EDSI

Back in 2019, I was Business Development Manager for an academic research institute that specialized in hardware security called RISE.

The basic premise of RISE was for academics from various UK universities to work on industry challenges, specific to hardware security.

Part of my role was to act as the front-of-house for the NCSC-funded program and share what was going on with industry bodies.

In June 2019, I was fortunate enough to present at ETSI Security Week in the South of France, where the great and the good get together for a security pow-wow on the outskirts of Nice.

The US CHIPs & Science Act and GPU’s

The CHIPS and Science Act is a U.S. federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 9, 2022. The act provides roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States. The act includes $39 billion in subsidies for chip manufacturing on US soil along with 25% investment tax credits for costs of manufacturing equipment, and $13 billion for semiconductor research and workforce training, with the primary aim of countering China.

Essentially the US is bringing the capability and production of chip sets closer to home, they are locking down their supply chain…

This is all to do with a perceived AI cold war powered by semiconductors (chips) between the West and China.

GPU-tting you ahead - The Super Chips!

A GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, is a specialized electronic circuit primarily designed to handle and accelerate the rendering of graphics and images. It is a key component in modern computer systems, particularly in gaming, virtual reality, and other graphics-intensive applications. Unlike the CPU (Central Processing Unit), which is responsible for general-purpose computing tasks, the GPU focuses on performing parallel calculations required for rendering complex visual elements in real-time.

GPUs excel at processing large amounts of data simultaneously, making them highly efficient at tasks that involve rendering and manipulating 2D and 3D graphics, image and video processing, machine learning, and scientific simulations. They consist of thousands of cores (processing units) that work together to execute tasks in parallel, enabling faster and more efficient processing compared to CPUs.

In addition to their role in graphics rendering, GPUs have found applications beyond gaming and entertainment. They are increasingly used in fields like artificial intelligence, deep learning, cryptocurrency mining, and scientific research, where their parallel processing capabilities can significantly accelerate computations and improve overall performance.

Ed-Ilogue

And missile systems and other military hardware and this is where it gets interesting and why the US brought in legislation last year to restrict the sale of specialised chips to specific countries.

Back to Bond and 1985. How far-fetched was film fiction from almost forty years ago? With my short time with RISE, I could see that change was afoot with hardware security and the CHIPs Act is proof of this.

Data is the “new oil” and Chips have emerged as the new “electricity“, the conduit for powering innovation, transforming industries and technological advancement.

Tune in next time for one of my favorite things, blogging about tech.

Ed aka the Chief Flaxer