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Transmeta To Becomes Fabless Chip Supplier

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the running-with-the-big-boys-now dept.

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."

5 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Name doesn't mean success by eldimo · · Score: 4
    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.

  2. It's is the first sign of an ignoble end by fudboy · · Score: 4


    heard in the Transmeta boardroom:

    "today is a good day to die!"

    :)Fudboy

    --

    :)Fudboy

    I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta
  3. Vaporware Inc... by Carnage4Life · · Score: 4

    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)

  4. Not much affect by maggard · · Score: 5
    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.

    --
    I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
  5. The lure of Transmeta by jjr · · Score: 4

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