Sounds like Quantum computing. Having struggled through Quantum Mechanics and Solid State Physics courses I can only admire people who can actually get something done with it.
The "killer app" of quantum computing is going to be breaking modern encryption, and it will probably happen in the next thirty years for either China, the US, or both. When that happens, or more accurately, when news of that breaks (because that's a weapon you want to keep secret for at least a little bit), anything crypto that goes against that power is useless because the principles that crypto was built on are going to be shattered.
Actually though, I wasn't thinking about quantum, because those problems are different. What the chipset people could be focusing on is customization. Hardcoding instructions into chips purpose built for specific applications and allowing no capacity for software workarounds or hacks. building custom chips for niche markets and niche sensors that can respond without software delays as if they were natural organisms, all of that is possible now and it isn't being pursued heavily because the market isn't built out for it yet.