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IBM researchers, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, have prototyped a new method for cooling microprocessors stacked on top of each other, creating a 3-D processor that could keep Moore's Law running strong for the next decade. Key to the effort is water, which seems to be the only material that can keep the stack from burning up. 3-D chip stacks would have an aggregated heat dissipation of close to 1 kilowatt with an area of 4 square centimeters and a thickness of about 1 millimeter, IBM reported.

AMD has released a new mobile processor platform, its latest contender as it battles for market share with archrival Intel. Codenamed "Puma," the offering includes Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile processors with ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series Graphics and wireless networking hardware from Atheros, Broadcom and Ralink. Puma is the first major effort AMD has made to develop a mobile chip, said Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. "In the past, AMD took its desktop chip and just made minor tweaks."

Intel on Tuesday unveiled a new processor it says will revolutionize the information technology industry by powering small laptops at low cost. Intel Asia Pacific Vice President and General Manager Navin Shenoy said the Atom processor will enable millions more people around the world to access the Internet. Shenoy's announcement at a Taiwan computer show raises the stakes in Intel's efforts to best rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and Via Technologies in supplying chips for cheap laptops.

Graphics chipmaker Nvidia has introduced a new family of processors aimed at the burgeoning industry of mobile Internet devices. "Tegra" is the name of a new line of tiny processors smaller than a dime that Nvidia is calling the world's smallest computer on a chip. More than just small in size, the Tegra processors consume very little energy, which can result in all-day media processing on MIDs -- 130 hours of audio or 30 hours of high-definition playback. "Creating Tegra was a massive challenge.

Taiwanese chipmaker Via Technologies announced its new line of low-powered Nano processors, formerly codenamed "Isaiah," Thursday. The new processor family offers up to four times the performance of Via's C7 processor line while featuring the same power requirements, the company said. Aimed primarily at the low-cost PC and ultra mobile PC markets, the Nano will vie with Intel's Atom chip for business from original device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers such as HP and Asus.

A trio of semiconductor companies have banded together in a joint effort to push the industry into transitioning to a larger, 450mm-sized wafer by 2012. Led by Intel, Samsung and TSMC, the idea is to line up the industry so that all of the required components and manufacturing needs are developed in time to benefit from the larger design. The intended benefit: Lowering the production cost of a computer chip. Basically, a wafer is a slice of semiconductor material that's formed in a consistent crystalline process that provides the basis for microprocessors.

AMD has announced the availability of three new triple-core x86 processors in its Phenom X3 lineup. New offerings include the 8750, the 8650 and the 8450, with power levels ranging from 2.4 to 2.1 gigahertz. Appropriately enough, the triple-core X3 lineup seems to play well in the middle ground between dual-core and quad-core processors. AMD first announced the tri-core processors last year and took some heat over speculation that the tri-cores would simply be failed or under-performing quad-core processors with a single processor deactivated.

Intel on Wednesday unveiled the Centrino Atom family of low-power processors for mobile Internet devices. It also announced a new class of inexpensive, simple Internet-centric computers, called "netbooks," which will hit the market later this year, and new developments in other chip families. The center of interest, however, was the Atom family, whose technology incorporates a new single chip, the Intel System Controller Hub that enables PC-like capabilities, with integrated graphics; and a wireless radio.

AMD announced Thursday the release of its triple-core Phenom processors, the X3 8000 series. A first for the PC industry, the triple-core chips are aimed at gamers and digital media enthusiasts for whom performance and price are paramount, the company said. The Phenom X3 processors have been designed to enhance multi-threaded application performance over that of dual-core processors while maintaining the same clock speed, according to the chipmaker. The two triple-core chips are among seven new Phenom-branded chips AMD made available Thursday.

Sun Microsystems has locked down a $44.29 million research deal with which it could develop a "macrochip" that speeds up ultra-complex computing processes through laser technology. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has finalized a 5 1/2-year contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that Sun says presents "a unique opportunity to develop supercomputers through interconnecting an array of low-cost chips, with the potential to overcome the fundamental cost and performance limits of scaling up today's large computer systems."