Taiwan unveils super-tiny microchip

Taiwan has developed tiny microchips that could lead to lighter and cheaper laptops or mobile phones.

TAIPEI, December 16, 2009 (AFP) - Taiwan has developed tiny microchips that could lead to lighter and cheaper laptops or mobile phones, researchers and observers said Wednesday.

State-backed National Nano Device Laboratories in northern Hsinchu city said it had succeeded in packing more transistors into smaller chip space than anyone else so far.

"Electronic gadgets like cellphones and laptops could become smaller, lighter and cheaper with this technology," Yang Fu-liang, the lab's chief, told AFP.

Currently, laptops seldom weigh less than about 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) but the latest development could see notebook computers weighing as little as a 500 grams.

"It's indeed the most advanced chip technology ever," said Nobunaga Chai, an analyst at Digitimes, a Taipei-based industry publication.