Dive Brief:

• According a new report, "Rebooting the IT Revolution: A Call to Action," the need for memory will be greater than 3x1024 bits by 2040.

• The report argues that in a rapidly expanding connected world, the government must invest in semiconductor research and development.

• Without new technologies, the report says that the number of silicon wafers required to supply the needed memory would dry up the world's identifiable supply of silicon.
   

Dive Insight:

The National Science Foundation-supported, Semiconductor Research Corporation- and Semiconductor Industry Association-sponsored the report that insists new technologies must be developed to handle IoT data.

Unlike earlier mainframes, IoT sensors will need to be increasingly specialized and capable of operating on very low energy, the report noted. Other crucial areas include analytics, manufacturing processes, and chip-level security.

The report calls for "a targeted and coordinated government initiative" to support the semiconductor industry.