NEC and a researcher from Japan’s Tohoku University, Professor
Hideo Ohno, are working on a power chip that solves a pretty big
problem: completely eliminating electricity consumption of
electronic devices that are in standby mode. The key piece of
technology here is CAM, the world’s first content addressable
memory. This non-volatile memory will be built into the control
circuits of TVs, computers and other devices and stores data
even when the power is turned off. In other words, constant
standby power to maintain data will not be needed anymore (the
English press release goes into more technical detail). The
picture above shows a prototype power chip. NEC plans to
showcase the tech at a symposium in Kyoto this Friday. The
company said it expects it will take up to five years until we
can see the technology put to practical use.