Small, portable devices could get new stamina thanks to a
transistor design that can cut a computer chip’s power consumption in half.
A new way of designing chips could solve one of the biggest
problems facing wearable computers such as Google Glass and the Samsung smart
watch—their batteries generally have to be recharged every day.
The novel design comes from SuVolta, which has been working
since 2006 to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of transistors, the
fundamental component of computer chips. The company has received $62 million
in venture funding. At at the industry conference Hot Chips in California last
month, SuVolta showed results from an experiment in which its technology was
used to make a version of an existing chip. SuVolta’s version consumed half the
power of the original while running at the same speed. It could operate 35
percent faster than the conventional chip if consuming the same power.