Intel Launches Zero-Power Multicore Processor

Today, Intel announced that it has reduced the size of the on-chip transistors on its multicore processors to the point where they no longer draw power. At zero power, processor designers can now insert as many transistors as they want into their designs with no power penalty. What’s more, the transistors are so small that there’s essentially no switching time involved, so the transistors are infinitely fast. All that’s left are the interconnect delays.

Intel researcher and spokesperson Flora Lip So said “The development of the zero-power transistor opens the door to a rapid expansion of the number of processor cores we can place on one die.” Initial, experimental multicore CPUs have 41 cores. Intel plans to release commercial processors based on this new zero-power technology in a year, and will sell the parts only one day per year, on April 1.