NEC Corp said it developed the world's smallest transistor, which could allow chips powerful enough to build a supercomputer the size of a personal computer.
NEC's design is one-eighteenth the size of current transistors, Mitsumasa Fukumoto, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based company said, confirming an earlier report by the Asahi newspaper.
Transistors are electronic circuits that form the basic building block for most semiconductors, a market worth US$155 billion last year. Gaining some of that revenue with the new transistor is still some ways off for NEC, said John Yang, an analyst at Standard & Poor's in Tokyo.
"The development itself is impressive, but the real challenge for NEC is building an effective business model," Yang said.
"Japanese companies are not good at putting technological developments into some marketable form."
NEC was awarded the fourth-highest number of patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office last year as it sought to gain a competitive advantage. IBM Corp led with 3,288 patents, edging second-place Canon Inc. Micron Technology Inc, the world's second-largest maker of memory chips, finished third.
Armonk New York-based IBM produces processors such as the PowerPC chip used in Apple Inc's computers. Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, had semiconductor sales of US$22.3 billion last year.
NEC was to introduce the transistor at an international convention that was set to begin yesterday in the US, Fukumoto said.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
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