Transmeta To Becomes Fabless Chip Supplier

Crazy Diamond writes "Transmeta has bought back its technology licenses from IBM and Toshiba in order to market its products on its own as a fabless chip supplier. This story comes from EETimes for more information."

Comments

This company will make history

[cjsnell]

I think Transmeta will make history.

..and I don't think it will be because of these chips. I think Transmeta will go down as one of the biggest flops that the Valley has ever seen. They'll probably do an IPO and their employees and founders will cash out and make millions. Once that is complete, they'll string it out for a few more months, drawing their fat paychecks, before the whole mess comes tumbling down. I'm guessing that they will release a product but it will be nowhere near as exciting as we've been anticipating. Performance will be mediocre and their competition will eat Transmeta for breakfast.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe we'll all be using Crusoe-based laptops in two years. Somehow, though, I doubt it.

Re:Not much effect

[cafeman]

Quoth the poster:

So Transmeta is buying back it's licenses. This means they have a bucket of cash & would like more control of thier own future.

It doesn't mean that Toshiba or IBM are dropping them as a supplier - just that they'll be a supplier like any other supplier. It doesn't mean Transmeta's technology is any better or worse then it was or seemed to be when IBM & Toshiba bought the licenses awhile ago - it just means that the financial folks at those companies wanted the cash more then the licenses & their supply folks felt comfortable with not having production in-house. This doesn't mean that IBM won't continue to build Transmeta's chips in their plants. IBM builds lots of chips for many companies as a simple supplier. IBM has the foundry capacity & the manufacturing technology to build chips for any number of clients & it brings them a good profit. This does mean that Transmeta will have more freedom in selecting manufacturers and setting prices & directly controlling production. It doesn't mean that Transmeta won't turn around next year and sell licenses again for either the current set of chips, for a next generation, or for third-party implementations.

Firstly, I think this does not bode well for Transmeta. The fact that Transmeta was able to buy back their licenses means that neither IBM nor Toshiba sees Transmeta as a good return on investment. If the technology was as impressive as the hype would have you believe, Transmeta would have only been able to get the licenses back from Toshiba and IBM by prying them out of their cold, dead hands. Sure, IBM and Toshiba will likely continue to supply devices using the Transmeta chip ... but considering they're some of the few firms that have actually seen the thing, it's not a good sign that they want to get rid of their licenses.

I would agree that the technology is no better or worse than when they first bought the licenses. However, I would argue that IBM and Toshiba bought into the hype somewhat too much. While Transmeta may be a great chip, IBM and Toshiba apparently don't see enough return in their investment to prevent them from selling their licenses. Ignoring this is choosing to close your eyes. Transmeta may still be the "killer-app" of chips. But I wouldn't hold your breath.

This isn't flamebait, it's just my opinion. I could easily be wrong. BUT, I think that on a fundamental level it indicates that the hype overtook the actual product.

On a different note, it's "Not much effect", not affect ... I can affect your decisions, but my actions will have an effect on you.

Name doesn't mean success

[eldimo]

pop.com was supposed to be THE entertainment site. It was backed by Steve Spielberg, David Geffen, Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard) and some other. Infobeat announced yesterday that pop.com is closing before it even went public!

What does that means? It means that without a good business plan and the right people at the right place, even big names does not necesseraly means success.

Transmeta.......

[SquadBoy]

is going to do some very cool things. The simple fact is in the market that Transmeta is trying to get into people are *really* excited over a processer with less than a 386 in it (think palm). I was telling my boss today about some of the things this chip would allow. He was ready to order. It is not supposed to compete with the P-4 or whatever. It is competing with the Palm and it can win this. Why? Because it is the only solution really portable, long battery life, and can give me a real OS. This is important stuff.

It's is the first sign of an ignoble end

[fudboy]

heard in the Transmeta boardroom:

"today is a good day to die!"

:)Fudboy

Vaporware Inc...

[Carnage4Life]

From the article:
Microprocessor startup Transmeta Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) has quietly changed its business plan. The company has bought back its two main technology-licensing agreements from IBM Corp. and Toshiba Corp., and now plans to market products on its own as a fabless chip supplier

First a major investor,Toshiba,claims that their chips are more hype than substance then they buy back their technology licenses from IBM and Toshiba?

Looks to me like Transmeta jumped the gun on their speculative announcements and have realized they cannot put their money where their mouth is. Unfortunately since this is Slashdot and Linus works there, its likely that this post will get moderated down and even though people here slaughter Intel when it comes to bad news, this will be glossed over. *sigh*


(-1 Troll)

all planned out

[austad]

They planned this from day one...

guy one: "how are we gonna get funding and access to test and design facilities?"
guy two: "Let's make our technology look really sweet and we'll license it out to some major corporations, including one or two with chip design and testing facilities. Then, after we get what we need out of them, we'll just try to buy back our rights with some stock from when we IPO and a relatively small cash payment compared to what we'll make on the IPO."
guy one: "Sweet, let's get drunk."

Transmeta's has had everything look very well thought out up until now, I fail to see how they would have just now "changed their minds". They're doing alot of very risky things, but it seems like it's been well planned since day one.

Not much affect

[maggard]

So Transmeta is buying back it's licenses. This means they have a bucket of cash & would like more control of thier own future.

• It doesn't mean that Toshiba or IBM are dropping them as a supplier - just that they'll be a supplier like any other supplier.
• It doesn't mean Transmeta's technology is any better or worse then it was or seemed to be when IBM & Toshiba bought the licenses awhile ago - it just means that the financial folks at those companies wanted the cash more then the licenses & their supply folks felt comfortable with not having production in-house.
• This doesn't mean that IBM won't continue to build Transmeta's chips in their plants. IBM builds lots of chips for many companies as a simple supplier. IBM has the foundry capacity & the manufacturing technology to build chips for any number of clients & it brings them a good profit.
• This does mean that Transmeta will have more freedom in selecting manufacturers and setting prices & directly controlling production.
• It doesn't mean that Transmeta won't turn around next year and sell licenses again for either the current set of chips, for a next generation, or for third-party implementations.

Frankly this seems more like "News for Finance Nerds" then anything directly technology related.

The lure of Transmeta

[jjr]

Transmeta's biggest assets are Linus and Paul. Just on the name value alone Transmeta as a good chance of making it work.