Therefore the chip can work as both a processor and as storage. It could one day take the place of both mass storage devices and central processing units.

HP spokeswoman Elisa Greene told Computerworld Friday that "HP has a goal to see Memristor products by the end of 2013," but the scedule isn't set in concrete yet.

"Stan's comments were actually misinterpreted by what was in the article," she said.

Greene said that HP and partner Hynix are on schedule to bring a product to market in 2013, the same date announced in 2010 when the two companies first began work on the Memristor technology.

"You didn't miss anything. It has always been the goal to have a product to market market by 2013, or in the next 18 months, but we're not promising that right now. We're saying that's our goal," Greene said. "The research and fabrication teams are working toward that goal."