Breakthrough could change computing

Computer firm Hewlett Packard has released further information on a technological breakthrough which they say could one day rewrite the rules of computing.

The company has shown off working devices that utilise memristors, circuit elements that could eventually be used to replace the transistors used on today's chips.

Essentially resistors with a memory, memristors allow both the storage and processing of data in the same place.

It could lead to chips many times more powerful than those available today and allow chip makers to exceed the famous Moore's Law in terms of increased computer power.

Hewlett Packard has estimated that devices incorporating memristor based chips could be on the market as quickly as five years time.

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[silversobe]

YES

[Oofloom]

Yeah we really need a game changer technology. Operating frequencies topped out years ago and, after a generation of consistent progress, process shrink has fallen behind Moore's law. It's the 21st century and everything is still built on ancient technologies: Magnetic drives, LCDs, transistors - all of them were around 40-50 years ago.