Seems that Intel has come up with a new 200 gigabit chip that uses light instead of copper. The chip's made entirely of silicon, which is also a big step forward, but this bad boy is twice as fast as the fastest optical networks currently available. The goal is to make a "a fingernail-sized chip that can crunch a terabit of data". Mmmmm.....terabits....
I think that this is going to be used for networking applications - like chips on networking cards or whatnot. I'm not sure if this is destined to be a next-gen CPU or not. In any case, it's really exciting to hear because if they can get this to work in production it will mean a quantum leap in miniaturization, speed, and power.
My favorite bit about this is one of the comments at the bottom - "it looks like a liiiiiiitle tiny money bag." Indeed it does, folks...indeed it does. Intel's set to make a whole lot of money if they can make this work.
(Link via Gizmodo)
doesn't intel call it the "cha-ching chip?" they should make accessories from the shape of this "chip" as well to maximize their profits. like "cha-ching chip" ear-rings, or the "cha-ching" chip on a necklace, or "cha-ching chip" plated toothcaps.