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Transmeta comes clean
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January 19, 2000: 2:11 p.m. ET
Silicon Valley startup takes the wraps off of 'Crusoe' processor
By Staff Writer Richard Richtmyer
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Transmeta, a Silicon Valley start-up that for years has been shrouded in secrecy, has finally given the public a peek at what it has been doing.
The company on Wednesday unveiled a new kind of computer processor, dubbed "Crusoe," which it designed for the next generation of Internet access devices and portable computers.
Executives at Transmeta unveiled the new chip at a press conference in Saratoga, Calif., which was broadcast live over the Internet Wednesday morning.
The company said its chip uses a technique called "code morphing," which allows it to translate the instructions of other processors into the a set of instructions that the Transmeta chips can understand.
Transmeta was granted a patent for its code-morphing technology last fall.
The set of instructions that a processor can understand is referred to as its architecture, which is programmed directly into the chip. Software applications designed for one specific processor architecture typically will not run on another. For example, a word processor designed for a Macintosh computer will not run on an Intel-based PC.
Intel (INTC) and Intel-compatible microprocessors are designed with what is called an "x86" architecture. Transmeta said its chips will be able to mimic an Intel chip's performance but operate much more efficiently and be available at a lower cost.
The company said Crusoe uses very little power, allowing for a battery life of up to eight hours; runs cooler than other processors; and is built on a 0.18 micron manufacturing process, which allows more chips to be produced from each silicon wafer, reducing the cost of production.
By avoiding Intel's patent fees, Transmeta also would be able to sell its chips at lower prices than other chip "cloners," which must pay royalties for the use of Intel's design.
Executives said that one of the Crusoe chips, the TM5400, operates at 700 megahertz, making it the fastest mobile computer microprocessor currently on the market.
"Our technology is real," a Transmeta marketing executive said Wednesday. "And we're focusing on market segments that are not only big today, but promise explosive growth in the future."
Transmeta was founded five years ago by David Dietzel, a former chip engineer at AT&T's (T) Bell Labs and at Sun Microsystems (SUNW).
Analysts and other industry observers have been anxiously awaiting the details from the company, which they said could give the leading microprocessor makers, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a run for their money.
Transmeta also drew a lot of attention recently when Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system, joined the company. With his input, Transmeta said it plans to release a slimmed-down version of Linux that is designed for mobile computers. 
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Transmeta
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