Scientists in China and the US have developed a small 6G chip that can turn the slow, unreliable data speeds in the countryside into a thing of the past. And it’s hundreds of times faster than your smartphone’s current download speed.
5G is the current gold standard for wireless communications, typically using frequencies below 6 gigahertz, which varies from country to country. The US top-performing cellular network in the first half of 2025 offered 299.36 megabits per second 5G download speeds.
Meanwhile, 6G, which experts say will be ready for 2030, is expected to use multiple frequency bands, and could be 10,000 times faster than 5G. However, the problem with tapping 6G is that devices will need multiple components to take advantage of different radio frequency bands. This is something that is missing from modern devices.
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However, researchers are now measuring the entire wireless spectrum covering nine radio frequency (RF) bands (0.5 to 110 GHz) on a chip of just 0.07 x 0.43 inches (1.7 x 11 mm).
The new chips can also achieve data transmission rates of 100 Gigabits per second, including low bands used in rural areas. The researchers also remained stable across the spectrum. They revealed their research in a study published on August 27th in the journal Nature.
To make this data speed a reality, 1,000 smartphones embedded in the chip can stream 8K ultra-high resolution videos simultaneously without slowing down performance.
Related: Wireless data speed hits 938 Gbps – 10,000 times faster than new records and 5G
As scientists have explained in their research, this “all hardware solutions of one size” can be dynamically reconfigured to switch frequency bands depending on when this is needed.
This is important. This is important because devices tapping 6G utilize a variety of wireless spectra, ranging from microwave, millimeter wave (MMWave) to Terahertz (THZ) bands.
The high-frequency MMWAVE and sub-THZ bands (100 GHz to 300 GHz) are used for applications that require extremely low latency, such as fast artificial intelligence (AI) computing and remote sensing. However, scientists still need 6 GHz and microwave bands to provide extensive coverage as described in this study.
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A light-based approach to 6G
Scientists say the current problem with wireless hardware is that it is designed to operate within narrow frequencies. Currently, deploying 6G requires several different systems for different bands, making wider deployments expensive and complicated.
The researchers’ new chips could potentially replace multiple systems by employing a double electro-optical approach. Use light to generate a stable signal across the RF spectrum. A broadband electro-optic modulator converts the wireless signal into an optical signal, then passes through an adjustable optoelectronic oscillator. These circuits use light weight and electricity to generate radio frequencies from the microwave band to the THZ band.
Scientists have made chips from thin film niobate (TFLN) instead of the traditional niobate used to regulate light at high speeds. TFLN has become the go-to for next-generation communications hardware because it can provide higher bandwidth with lower latency.
As 6G is deployed and more people request more data, cellular networks will inevitably become crowded just as 5G networks are at peak times. High traffic can lead to traffic jams and slow data speeds.
The new system avoids interference by using what researchers call “adaptive spectrum management.” Normally, the signal is packed into one or two frequency bands, but with this new chip, the signal can switch between multiple frequencies without compromising data transmission. This could reduce the likelihood of signaling in large events and busy spaces. In this space, tens of thousands of devices are connected to the network at the same time.
“The technology is like building an ultra-scale highway where electronic signals are vehicles and frequency bands are lanes,” he studies Wang Xingjun, associate dean of the Electronics School at Peking University.
Wang and his co-authors believe that 6G’s “full spectrum” chips could be built into all compatible devices, but building an infrastructure for next-generation wireless communications requires a lot of work to do.
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