Faster and smaller computer chips that combine processing and memory. I'm Fred Fishkin with Bootcamp, a report on computers and technology. IBM is calling it a miniaturization marvel. Big Blue has announced a breakthrough in computer chip technology that combines the two basic kinds of chips...logic and memory ...into one. IBM's Bill O'Leary...

"Chips like this that combine logic and memory will have implications for virtually any electronic product that uses chips. Which means just about any electronic product. For example, take a personal computer. Today one of the biggest hinderances to performance in a personal computer is the fact that these high speed processors that are used under the covers are often waiting for information to come to them from memory chips that may be located separately within the computer. So, a lot of idle time is wasted. By putting the two together, the memory, the information that the processor needs, is very close at hand, so the performance could be greatly enhanced."

It also clears away some of the obstacles in the race to make electronic products smaller....

"If you could physically reduce the number of chips under the cover, by combining them onto one chip, you can make your product smaller, cheaper, lighter."

IBM expects the first products using the new technology to be on the market within the next year or so....and within two years it will become common in all kinds of electronic products.