Researchers at computer firm Hewlett Packard (HP) have shown off working devices built using memristors - often described as electronics' missing link.
These tiny devices were proposed 40 years ago but only fabricated in 2008.
HP says it has now shown that they can be used to crunch data, meaning they could be used to build advanced chips.
That means they could begin to replace transistors - the tiny switches used to build today's chips.
And, crucially, the unique properties of memristors would allow future chips to both store and process data in the same device.
Today, these functions are done on separate devices, meaning data must be transferred between the two, slowing down the computation and wasting energy.
"The processor and memory could be exactly the same thing," Professor Stan Williams of HP told BBC News. "That allows us to think differently about how computation could be done."
BBC News
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