WP2: Computing System on Chips (SoCs)

Performance requirements keep growing across the computing continuum, from wearables to supercomputers. While for several decades computing performance has relied upon silicon technology scaling, today we clearly see diminishing returns: only 10x improvement of performance over 12 years, while application requirements are accelerating to 10x over 2-3 years. In order to tackle this challenge, the design of computing chips must embrace full-stack, application-to-technology co-design approaches. At the same time, the pervasiveness of computing in life-critical functions (e.g., for autonomous driving, traffic control, communication systems, etc.) prompts for an increased research emphasis on security, as well as predictability, reliability, and safety. Furthermore, the current geo-political trend toward increased decoupling and sovereignty of global international competitors (EU, USA, China, Japan, and India) in the field of high-performance computing is creating an increasingly challenging research environment, especially for smaller countries like Switzerland, which must find ways to collaborate with larger partners trying to avoid captivity.