Researchers from the University of Idaho created a computer chip that runs faster and more efficiently than anything on the market.

Designed and created by a team led by Sterling Whitaker – an electrical engineering professor at UI – the chip is more powerful than 17,000 Intel quad core processors and can function on .03 percent of the power those would need.

According to a Sept. 29 news release by UI, the chip is to be used by NASA to observe weather patterns as part of a geostationary project.

The news release also reported that the chip is able to coordinate 588 antennas in real time to achieve this goal and will only take 120 watts of power to do its job. This is slightly more than it takes to power the average light bulb. The circuitry on the chip itself is only 90 nanometers thick, which is about the width of a human hair.

While similar things have been done in the world of electrical engineering, the design itself is unique, said Lowell Miles, a senior research engineer who worked with Whitaker on the project.