Northrop-MSU Research Seeks to Manage Supercomputers’ Energy Consumption With Magnetic Memory Element

Northrop Grumman and Michigan State University have developed a magnetic memory component designed to manage the heat generation and energy consumption of supercomputers.

Researchers at Northrop and MSU carried out the study as part of a grant from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, MSU said Friday.

“One of the major impediments to superconducting computing technology had been the lack of an efficient memory that took advantage of the superconducting state,” said Eric Gingrich, a physicist at Northrop.

MSU noted that the superconducting magnetic memory element will work to support efforts to leverage new computer technologies while controlling electricity use.

IARPA aims to apply the element to create circuits that consume 100 times less power, the university added.

Don Miller, a scientist at Northrop, and MSU researchers Joseph Glick, Yixing Wang, Reza Loloee and William Pratt Jr. contributed to the research project, which was published in the journal Nature Physics.