Chinese researchers develop flexible AI chip that endured 40,000 bends

A study published in Nature on Thursday reported a flexible artificial intelligence chip developed in China that remained stable after repeated bending tests, with potential applications such as wearable health-monitoring devices and brain–computer interface.

FLEXI, a thin, lightweight and flexible chip, can withstand more than 40,000 cycles of 180-degree bending without performance degradation and remained stable during continuous operation over a six-month testing period.

Conventional rigid silicon-based chips are poorly suited to applications that must conform to the human body or complex curved surfaces. Existing flexible processors, meanwhile, are often limited by power consumption and computing capability.

FLEXI uses a compute-in-memory architecture, integrating data storage and processing to reduce data shuttling and energy use. Despite having a capacity of just 1 kilobit, a single flexible chip achieved up to 99.2 percent accuracy in detecting cardiac arrhythmias, demonstrating its potential for wearable medical devices.

The chip is about 25 micrometers thick – roughly one-third the thickness of a standard A4 sheet of paper. The smallest version measures 31.12 square millimeters, integrates 10,628 transistors and can operate in an ultra-low-power mode consuming only 55.94 microwatts.