Coming soon: Supercomputers the size of a sugar cube

The approach will see many computer processors stacked on top of one another, cooling them with water flowing between each one.

The aim is to reduce computers’ energy use, rather than just to shrink them…

“In the past, computers were dominated by hardware costs – 50 years ago you could hold one transistor and it cost a dollar, or a franc,” Dr Michel told BBC News.

Now when the sums are done, he said, the cost of a transistor works out to 1/100th of the price of printing a single letter on a page.