A team of scientists from NTU and Rice University, US, have successfully created a new super environmentally-friendly green chip which uses 30 times less energy while running seven times faster than existing chips. Mobile phones that could need re-charging just once every two weeks or surgically-implanted devices lasting several lifetimes could be a reality a few years down the road. This out-of-the-box concept was conceived in 2005 by the director of NTU’s Institute of Sustainable Nanoelectronics and Rice University computer scientist Professor Krisna Palem. Team member Assoc Professor Yeo Kiat Seng, NTU’s Head of the School of EEE’s circuits and systems division, says that the chip is able to make such a leap over current chip technology because of its design. Professor Yeo reckons it will take about four years for actual products to appear. The new technology has also been endorsed by Intel Microprocessor Technology Lab director Shekhar Borkar, who called the 'energy and speed advantages' of the new technology a 'significant achievement'.