IBM Research is currently investigating how to better design and manufacture
high performance microprocessors.
IBM has a long history of pushing the state of the art in processor
design. IBM's large scale server machines (starting with the IBM 360
and progressing to the modern CMOS 390 machines) have pioneered most
of the ideas now considered "standard" in processor design,
including out-of-order execution, speculative execution, pipelines,
caches, and multiprocessor designs. IBM also invented the RISC (Reduced
Instruction Set Computer) concept, and built the first RISC in the
801 project in the Research Division. This work formed the basis for
our RISC System/6000 designs and led to the PowerPC processors used
by the Apple PowerMac (TM). Recently, a 64-bit version of the PowerPC
has been adopted by the easy-to-use midrange AS/400. Research
is done in the areas of microarchitecture, circuit design, process
technology and CAD tools all with the goal of producing the more
powerful microprocessors that our customers demand. Emphasis is
placed both on improving the "power" of a design by improving
the instructions per cycle, and on improving the cycle time (the
"megaHertz") as well.
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