It's not a binary choice. Independent boffin builds a ternary CPU on an FPGA

The 5500FP is a ternary CPU implemented on an FPGA. It's not very fast, but it makes it easier to experiment with computers ...
Hackaday

Ternary RISC Processor Achieves Non-Binary Computing Via FPGA

You would be very hard pressed to find any sort of CPU or microcontroller in a commercial product that uses anything but ...
ExtremeTech

Samsung-Backed Researchers Debut Ternary Semiconductor Design

One of the first things we learn about computers is that they perform operations using binary code to represent values. It's a fundamental trait of computing -- but it's not a requirement. It's ...
Hackaday

Moscow State University

[Codeolences] tells us about the FORBIDDEN Soviet Computer That Defied Binary Logic. The Setun, the world’s first ternary computer, was developed at Moscow State University in 1958. Its troubled and ...