Transistors smaller than a strand of DNA just packed nearly 100 billion switches onto a fingernail, and the stacking trick IBM used to cross a barrier physicists thought would stop the whole industry cold

A nanosheet transistor is essentially a thin ribbon of silicon lying on its side, with electrical contacts wrapping around it. The result: nearly 100 billion transistors on a chip the size of a fingernail, roughly twice the density of IBM’s 2nm chip from 2021. Transistor features are smaller than the width of a DNA strand, which measures about 2.5 nanometers according to the National Nanotechnology Initiative. IBM is not yet disclosing how it will commercialize nanostack, and its near-term focus remains helping partners scale today’s 2nm technology. IBM’s 2nm chip, unveiled in 2021, is only now approaching volume production five years later.