At its annual developer conference last week in San Francisco, chip-maker Intel showed off a prototype CPU – code-named ‘Claremont’ - which was the size of a postage stamp and boasted such a low power rating that can potentially run personal computers (PCs) on solar power!

Revealing that the low power ‘Claremont’ chip operates at less than 10mW, Justin Rattner – the Chief Technology Officer at Intel – said at the conference that the experimental processor was not only capable of running a PC using the Linux OS but could also work with a concept DDR3 memory known as Hybrid Memory Cube.

According to the details shared by Rattner, the experimental ‘Claremont’ chip was essentially based on a redesign of a Pentium processor which is over ten years old, and it was five times more energy-efficient than the processors currently available on the market.

Further adding that the point of the research pertaining to the development of the experimental chip was to demonstrate the possibility of extreme power savings, Rattner said that the ‘Claremont’ processor was nowhere near ready for prime time.

Nonetheless, Intel intends continuing its Research and Development (R&D) efforts in order to attain its objective of producing super energy-efficient high-performance chips in the future.

Reiterating the fact that Intel remains committed in its pursuit of low-powered devices, CEO Paul Otellini had said last Tuesday that the ‘Claremont’ CPU is part of the company’s “long standing obsession with power reduction.”