Japanese computer chip reported to be ultra-fast

Japan's Toshiba Corporation said it has developed an ultra-fast computer chip that it describes as the world's fastest logic large-scale integration (LSI) chip.

Toshiba said the chip's makeup is a compound of gallium and arsenic, not the conventional silicon wafer. The chip can calculate at a speed of 80 picoseconds (one picosecond equals 1,000-billionth of a second) through its 500 data gates - about five times faster than its silicon counterpart, the company said.