Thermodynamic chips are a world apart from traditional computing — closer in practice to the realms of quantum and probabilistic computing. Where noise is the enemy of standard electronics, thermodynamic and probabilistic chips actively use noise to solve problems. 

“We’re focusing on algorithms that are able to leverage noise, stochasticity, and nondeterminism,” said Zachary Belateche, silicon engineering lead at Normal Computing, in a recent interview with IEEE Spectrum. “That algorithm space turns out to be huge, everything from scientific computing to AI to linear algebra."