Today at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco,  IBM reported a new 8-bit analog chip. But the true development was less about analog chips catching up to their digital peers and more a radical rethink of chip architecture: this chip is the first to perform 8-bit calculations right where information is stored.

In traditional von Neumann chip architecture, data constantly shuttles between memory and processing, which consumes valuable energy and time, says Abu Sebastian, the lead researcher on this work, from IBM Zurich. In-memory calculations are the logical next step for reducing power consumption while increasing performance. These gains are necessary for hardware to keep up with advancements in artificial intelligence.

IBM’s new analog chip is based on phase-change memory. The key ingredient is a material that can undergo phase changes in response to electrical current. Typically, these are alloys of germanium, tellurium, and antimony. In one phase, which is conductive, the atoms are lined up nicely. In the other phase, which doesn’t conduct electricity, the atoms move around, heated locally by current, and become jumbled.