The IBM chip uses the structure of the human brain as map for the design of the circuits in their chip.

FORBES: MIT Scientists Develop A Chip That Mimics Brain Synapses

Iterating the design and manufacturing planning as the chip evolves toward production allows for the optimization of both.

FORBES: How Knitting Gets Done In The Silicon Biz

Putting different size features on different chip planes raises questions as to whether such a design can reap all the cost benefits of a fully 14nm part.

FORBES: Globalfoundries Pirouettes Around The Process Node Problem

Likely to attract the most interest, however, is the top-end X7350 processor, which clocks in at 2.93GHz with 8MB of shared on-chip cache and a thermal design power rating (otherwise known as TDP) of 130 watts.

ENGADGET: Intel rolls out quad-core Tigerton processors

Ultimately, however, the self-tuning nature of the Transmeta chip design could offer advantages in desktop machines and high-performance servers as well portables.

ECONOMIST: Transmetamorphosis

These once-novel methods of chip design have done respectably in specialist applications, but have not dethroned Intel as it was suggested they might when they were launched.

ECONOMIST: Computing

This speeds up the design process enormously, because making changes becomes as simple as downloading a new configuration into the chip.

ECONOMIST: Hardware goes soft