Next-Generation Heterogeneous Computing: The Role of Analog Computing with HPC, AI, and Quantum

This IDC Perspective explores recent technological advances across photonic, in-memory, crossbar, and neuromorphic architectures, highlighting how these emerging systems are being developed to complement, rather than replace, classical and quantum approaches in next-generation datacenter and supercomputing workflows. Analog computing is reemerging as a promising accelerator technology in heterogeneous HPC, AI, and quantum environments, offering high parallelism and improved power efficiency for workloads such as linear algebra, dense simulations, and AI inference."Analog computing is emerging as a key enabler of next-generation heterogeneous compute," notes Heather West, PhD, research manager, Performance-Intensive Compute, "By complementing digital and quantum resources, it allows HPC and AI workloads to exceed traditional limits in speed, energy efficiency, and scalability, pointing toward a future of where processing units are workload specific."