Analog Computing
last updated 2026-05-04 · +5 sources in last 30d
Physics / mechanism
Competitive landscape
Digital ASIC accelerators (Tenstorrent, Groq, Cerebras) dominate on programmability and precision; neuromorphic (Intel Loihi, IBM NorthPole) overlaps on event-driven, low-power inference. Photonic digital interconnect is adjacent but distinct. In-memory computing (SRAM/DRAM analog) competes at the edge.
Companies using
Connected ideas
Sources
Frontier (open questions)
Analog / In-Memory Computing
Performing the multiply-accumulate of neural inference inside the memory array (memristor, SRAM, capacitor or flash crossbars) rather than shuttling data to a digital ALU, trading numerical precision for a large energy-per-MAC win. The architectural answer to the memory-bound-AI problem that Memcapacitor Compute Memory Bound Ai and Hbm Free Inference Architectures bet on; adjacent to but distinct from digital Processing-in-Memory (PIM).
Recent mentions
- 2026-04-28 Making AI inference Cheap with Analog Computing w/ Shwetank Kumar @ EnCharge AI substack
- 2025-02-12 Edge AI: Analog Chips (feat. Aron Kirschen, SEMRON) substack
- 2023-09-28 ☎️ E17: In Conversation with Shiv Malik, CEO of Pool.io on the State of Data Unions 🤝₿ substack
- 2023-09-24 ☎️ E16: In Conversation with John Waite, Co-Founder and CEO of Phycobloom and a Breakthrough Energy Fellow on the State of Biofuels and Algae Fuel 🌱⛽ substack
- 2023-09-18 ☎️ E15: In Conversation with Wisear on The State of Hearables, Brain Computer Interfaces and Augmented Reality 👂🎧🧠 substack
- 2023-09-08 🔮E14: The Real AI Bottleneck: High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) substack
- 2023-08-31 🔮 E13: Chiplets - How Chip Lego is Driving AI Progress substack
- 2023-08-25 🔮E12: Nanomechanical Computing- Gears of Space War? Old Ideas at New Scales substack