Intel's breakthrough 'nano' chip technology

Is the world so thrilled on the concept of improving software that it misses the "hardware" side of the equation? It's true that customers actually interact with Microsoft's(NASDAQ:MSFT) Vista operating system or Apple Inc.'s(NASDAQ:AAPL)OS X operating system. But then, those pieces of software talk to the underlying hardware processor to get speedy responses to those customer requests, and the speed at which these processors gain in terms or technological brilliance would impress any technologist.

Both Intel Corp.(NASDAQ:INTC) and AMD (NYSE:AMD)-- two of the world's largest chipmakers, are working on new chips that have measurements stated in "nanometers" -- a billionth of a meter. In fact, Intel's newer nano-chips are said to be able and allow the creation of super-powerful computers that fit in a shirt pocket -- and tiny machines that crawl through the bloodstream, delivering cancer drugs.

Sounds like sci-fi? It's closer than you think. Intel just recently announced the first fundamental change in the way electronic circuits are produced since the 1960s. That's a major breakthrough. Intel will be replacing much of the silicon dioxide in its chips with an alloy of an element called halfnium. Halfnium is far less likely to leak electricity -- and that has huge implications for producing chips with ever-decreasing sizes. Want a great resource on nanotech investing? Try the Wolfe Report at Forbes.