The 4-Decade Arc: Two Technology S-Curves
Where Each Incremental Dollar Lands: Leading-Edge Node Scaling vs. Compute-in-Memory
01. Two Technology S-Curves: Investment vs. TOPs/W Return
Where each incremental dollar lands across cumulative investment effort.
02. Architectural Lineage
Four decades of computing paradigms converging into non-volatile bit-serial execution.
1980s · Vector Supercomputer Era (Cray-1 / Cray X-MP) 500 kW • ECL Logic
Pioneered long vector registers and pipelined arithmetic. Highly performant for linear algebra, but constrained by immense power and liquid cooling systems.
2000s · Massively Parallel GPU Era (NVIDIA G80 / CUDA) 300W • von Neumann HBM
Transformed GPUs into general-purpose parallel accelerators. Delivered massive throughput for deep learning, but hit the von Neumann memory wall (~20 pJ/bit data commute tax).
2026+ · The Sibacus BSA-CIM Era 0.239 pJ/MAC • BEOL 22nm eRRAM
Eliminates von Neumann data movement by computing directly inside Metal 4/5 BEOL RRAM layers using zero-multiplier Bit-Serial Addition. Delivers supercomputer-class matrix throughput at sub-watt edge energy levels.