Patenting the Memristor

The memristor (short for "memory resistor") is poised to revolutionize computing. A memristor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that can function as a circuit element relating charge and magnetic flux linkage. When the current is stopped, the device retains the last resistance that it had, and when the flow of charge starts again, the circuit resistance matches what it was when it was last active. In a nutshell, memristors are resistive devices with an inherent memory. It is this characteristic that makes the memristor an ideal electronic component for neuromorphic computer architectures such as physical neural networks (as opposed to strictly software based neural networks), synaptic devices and AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips.