By Kashmira Konduparty
IBM unveiled what it described as the world’s first semiconductor technology capable of producing chips smaller than one nanometer, marking a major milestone in the race to develop more powerful and energy-efficient processors for artificial intelligence applications.
The announcement comes as technology companies seek new ways meet the growing computing demands of AI systems.
IBM said the new technology features a transistor architecture measuring 0.7 nanometers or 7 angstroms, significantly smaller than the most advanced chips currently entering production. The company said the breakthrough could help extend the industry’s long-running trends of packing more computing power into increasingly smaller chips, a principle commonly known as Moore’s Law.
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The chip packs nearly 100 billion transistors onto a surface roughly the size of a fingernail, about double the density of IBM’s 2-nanometer chip technology unveiled in 2021. According to the company, the increased density could deliver up to 50% higher performance or improve energy efficiency by as much as 70% compared with its earlier design.
To achieve the breakthrough, IBM developed a new transistor design called “nanostack.” Unlike conventional chip architectures that place transistors side by side, the nanostack approach arranges them vertically on three dimensions, allowing more components to fit within the same space. IBM Research Director Jay Gambetta said “with our new nanostack architecture, we’re not just making smaller transistors, we’re reinventing how chips are built to deliver dramatically more power and energy efficiency.”
The development arrives as semiconductor manufacturers and technology companies invest heavily in advanced computing infrastructure to support generative AI models and data centers. Demand for faster and more efficient processors has surged as AI systems require enormous amounts of computing power for training and deployment.
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IBM said commercial production of the technology could begin within five years, though the company has not yet identified a manufacturing partner. IBM no longer manufactures chips itself but has historically licensed its semiconductor technologies to companies including Samsung and Japan’s Rapidus.
The announcement also highlights growing competition in the semiconductor industry. Last week, Intel said its 18A manufacturing process capable of producing 1.8-nanometer chips, has entered risk production, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. continues to advance next-generation chip technologies for customers such as Nvidia and Apple.
Investors welcomed the announcement, sending IBM shares more than 6% higher in premarket trading. The company’s latest breakthrough reinforces its roles as a major research force in semiconductor innovation, even as it focuses increasingly on artificial intelligence, cloud computing and quantum technologies.