He also added that unlike today's chipsets most of the data will be transferred via a single optic opening of one optic port.
A beam of light is split into two separate beams as it passed through silicon, and then a novel transistor-like device is used to hit one beam with an electric charge, inducing a `phase shift.' When the two beams of light are recombined, the phase shift induced between the two arms makes the light exiting the chip go on and off at over one gigahertz (one billion bits of data per second), 50 times faster than previously produced on silicon. This on and off pattern of light can be translated into the 1's and 0's needed to transmit data.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has been operating in Israel since 1974, and has 5,200 employees at its four main development centers in Jerusalem, Haifa, Kiryat Gat and Petah Tikva.
Israeli researchers at Intel have achieved a breakthrough in chip development that will enable computers to operate at 10 times the current speed. In a development that promises to change the world of computing and telecommunications within five to 10 years, the electro-optic chips developed during the past year and a half at Intel's Jerusalem facility will replace the standard electronic chips used for communications between computer components. This will allow this communication to be conducted at the speed of light - 10 times the current speed. Amir Elstein, the co-CEO of Intel Israel and director of Intel's Jerusalem facility explained that today's fastest processors operate at speed's of three gigahertz but the other components work in megahertz which is a major bottleneck, when the chips, the processor and the ports of the computer speak at the same speed, which will be about 10 gigahertz, the computer's capability will be totally different.