The former head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Daniel Goldin, is the co-founder of the KnuEdge startup company that aims to build a neural chip for efficient computing in data centers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Dan Goldin occupied the function of chief of NASA for 9 years. In this quality, he was overseeing complex projects like the international space station. Now Golding is ready for another challenging launch of his startup company that has been working in secret for 10 years on developing neural computing.
According to VentureBeat, Goldin, founded a decade ago the San Diego, California-based company with the former chief technology officer of NASA. KnuEdge has already raised $100 million in funding for its neural chip project.
The brain-like neural computing chip will be far more power and cost efficient than current chips based on the John von Neumann's computer architecture. In current machines, the processor and memory are separated and linked via a bus or data pathway.
Von Neumann machines have gotten faster over the years by sending data at higher speeds across the bus. However, the capacity of the bus often limits the speed of a computer, leading to the "von Neumann bottleneck."
In order to deal with the explosion of data driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, the researchers are developing brain-like data center chips. One of the major high-tech companies working on research in neural computing is IBM.
On the surface, Goldin's company is working on the same kind of research as IBM, but its approach is different. The KnuEdge startup has been funded by angel investors.
Goldin hopes that his company will contribute to a fundamental transformation of the computing world. According to him, the company is actively engaged in Fortune 500 companies and hyperscale computing companies, and it has already generated $20 million in revenue. Among its clients included companies in the banking, aerospace, hospitality, health care and insurance industries.
