ULTRA-POWERFUL COMPUTERS

Computers think in zeros and ones. They contain millions of tiny switches, called transistors, that can be either on (one) or off (zero). The more transistors a computer has, the faster it can think. For the past few decades, engineers have been working hard to make this technology as small as possible. As a result, the number of transistors that can fit on a computer chip has roughly doubled every two years – a phenomenon known as Moore’s law. Your average computer now contains transistors no bigger than 14 nanometres across, while the most advanced contain transistors that measure just seven nanometres. In 2022, IBM unveiled transistors that measure just two nanometres, thinner than a strand of DNA, making it possible to pack 50 billion onto a chip the size of your fingernail.

Dna-sized transistors like those on this silicon wafer could one day allow computers to fit inside cells