Not processing power, mind you, just the electrical power used by their computer chips. Intel claims that about half the power consumed by processors comes not from active computing, but from "leakage current" when the transistors are in a "low-level sleep state." Intel's latest chip production process will result in processors that won't suffer from such levels of "transistor leakage." According to CNET, the new chips could cut wasted power by as much as a thousand times. Overall, the new design chips should use about one-tenth the power that current generation mobile technology processors use.

Although processor power consumption isn't the only draw on device power, it's an important one. This is the kind of development that will make self-powered mobile devices more likely, with greater consumption efficiency matching improvements in plastic photovoltaic production capacity.

(Via Mobile Technology Weblog)