Sony and a research team at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed an RF and baseband chip capable of wireless data transfers at up to 6.3Gbps operating on the 60GHz millimeter wave band. The new chip is specifically for use on mobile devices, and is being showcased at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco this week. It sets new records not only for millimeter-wave wireless transfer speed (the equivalent of a 50GB Blu-ray disc in just over a minute) but also power use, requiring a meager 74mW at its max speed.

The 60GHz millimeter wave band (so called because of its wavelength of 1 to 10 millimeters) is not only used for those uncomfortable airport security screenings, but also for standards like Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) and WirelessHD (WiHD). There's no word on when the new chips might hit the market, but judging from the gnarled mess of wires behind our TVs, the sooner the better.