IBM 2nm chip claims more power with less energy

The process used to make computer chips is measured in nanometres (nm) – with a lower number usually signifying a leap forward.

IBM claims its test chip can improve performance by 45% over current 7nm commercially available products.

It is also more energy-efficient – using 75% less energy to match current performance, IBM said.

It claims the tech could “quadruple” mobile phone battery life, and phones might only need to be changed every four days.

The computer chip industry used to use nanometres – one billionth of a meter – to measure the physical size of transistors. Today, a lower “nm” number is widely seen as a marketing term to describe new generations of technology, leading to better performance and lower power.

Current high-end desktop chips based on the 7nm process, such as AMD’s Ryzen processors, did not become widely available until 2019 – four years after IBM announced it had cracked the 7nm process.

But mainstream commercial chip-makers such as Intel and TSMC – which makes AMD processors – have already said they plan to build ultra-low nm chip plants in the next several years.

“This can be considered as a breakthrough,” said Peter Rudden, research director at market intelligence firm IDC.