IBM reported a breakthrough in computer chips.

The company said its scientists have made the world’s densest integrated circuits, increasing the density by 10 times over that in chips being developed today. Using a novel fabrication process, the scientists have shrunk circuits into an area 16 times smaller than permitted by the technology typically used in semiconductor manufacturing, the company said. IBM said the process should lead to lower costs because more logic or memory circuits could be fabricated on a single chip. Increasing the density also raises the circuit’s operating speed.