The new chip, a follow-up to IBM's 7 nm chip developed in July 2015, will carry 30 billion transistors on a chip the size of a fingernail, the company said. IBM's previous 7 nm chip packed 20 billion transistors.

Based on the increased transistor density, the new 5 nm chip will achieve a performance boost of 40 percent compared with the current-generation 10 nm chips, company officials said.

The most-advanced semiconductor chips at the moment use a FinFET process technology with circuitry that is 10 nm in width.

Last month, Samsung Electronics said it has finalized the development of second-generation 10 nm FinFET, claiming the development will help the firm secure more foundry business partners. (Yonhap)