IBM unveils chip technology promising 50% more power

IBM has unveiled a new semiconductor technology that could, within five years, enable the production of chips up to 50% more powerful and significantly more energy-efficient than current microprocessors. This breakthrough is based on a three-dimensional architecture and marks a new stage in the miniaturization of electronic components.

A 3D architecture to double the transistor density

The American group presented a so-called "0,7 nm" technology, succeeding the "2 nm" process unveiled in 2021 and entering mass production at the end of 2025. While this name does not correspond to the actual size of the chips, it reflects an increase in transistor density, a key element of computing power.

Thanks to its new "nanostack" architecture, which stacks multiple layers of transistors instead of just one, IBM claims it can integrate nearly 100 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail, roughly twice as many as the 2nm technology. The future chips would thus offer 50% more computing power and perform 1,7 times more operations with equivalent energy consumption.

Industrialization not expected for at least five years

IBM clarifies that this technology is not yet ready for industrial production and estimates that commercialization will not be possible for at least five years. The company, which does not manufacture chips in series itself, plans to continue its licensing model with specialized manufacturers.

A 3D architecture could be used for both conventional processors (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), essential for the development of artificial intelligence, as well as for SRAM memory, whose performance could increase by 40%. IBM believes that this approach will enable further miniaturization to processes on the order of 0,1 nanometers by 2040.