"By this time next year, that processor will run the Oracle database faster than any other processor. The way we're going to do it is by moving a lot of software onto silicon," Ellison said during his Sunday keynote.

At Monday's press conference, Toyoki declined to give a specific release date for the processor but said, by way of a translator, that it should be out "early next year."

Based on a 28-nanometer fabrication process, the Sparc64 X will be a 16-core processor that handles two threads per core, with a clock speed of up to 3.0 GHz.

Perhaps the most novel aspect of the processor is how it will be cooled by liquid, in a process the company calls "liquid loop cooling." In effect, each server will have a radiator, which pipes cool liquid to individual CPUs. The approach will cut down on the noise caused by individual fans and extend CPU life, as the components will not grow as hot in daily operation, the company claims.

Each chip will also get 512GB of DDR3 memory. Each core will have a Level 1 memory cache of 64KB (instruction cache) and 64KB (data cache), and each chip will have a Level 2 cache of 24MB. Fujitsu's high-speed interconnect technology will allow the CPUs to share data at a rate of up to 14.5Gbps.