Transmetta Licenses AMD x86 64-bit Technology
Source: Computergram International
Date: May 29, 2001
Number: 4173
By Dan Jones
Transmeta Corp has licensed x86 64-bit and bus technology from Advanced Micro Devices Inc that could allow it to compete with Intel Corp in the high-end server market several years down the line.
Santa Clara, California-based Transmeta is characterizing the deal as one that will offer it the security to go after the 64-bit server market in the future - if it chooses to - and upgrade its current line of low-power 32-bit Crusoe designs to 64-bit, when its customers need to step up that technological level.
"It's about securing our long term future," Transmeta co-founder and executive VP of product development, Doug Laird, told ComputerWire. "With this technology, we can look into other markets in the future, if we so desire."
Upstart Transmeta first burst onto the semiconductor scene in 2000 with a chip design incorporating sophisticated power management technology and a very long instruction word (VLIW) architecture that emulates x86 processors. Despite the fact that the company provides chips for niche markets like mini-notebooks, thin servers and web pads, it has shaken established companies like Intel Corp, which recently upgraded its Mobile Pentium offerings to offer better power-to-performance ratios.
Laird would not give a timescale for when 64-bit Transmeta products might hit the market. However, he said the company has seen no demand for such advanced technology from existing customers. Sunnyvale, California-based AMD expects to have its own "Hammer" family of 64-bit chips out in the second half of 2002. These will compete with the Itanium EPIC 64-bit chips that Intel finally launched today.
The HyperTransport bus technology will be incorporated in Transmeta's designs within two years. HyperTransport is a high bandwidth I/O interface that Transmeta will use to link processors to PCI-X and Infiniband bridges. AMD expects to launch the first of these products later this year.
The HyperTransport licensing deal of perhaps the most important part of the agreement for AMD. "By having Transmeta with HyperTransport, we make it easier for third parties to support HyperTransport and ensure a plentiful supply of chipsets," Fred Weber, VP and CTO of AMD told ComputerWire.
The agreement reinforces AMD's self-proclaimed "good guy role" in the x86 standards arena. "AMD really is emerging as an innovations leader in new standards," Weber said, "[because] we're willing to license these technologies." He didn't add, unlike Intel, but claimed that "others" in the market "have taken some wrong turns."
The cozy announcement from the two companies has added some fire to persistent rumors that AMD and Transmeta will merge to form a x86 powerhouse to compete with Intel. Neither Laird nor Webber would be drawn on any prospects for a deeper relationship.
For the record, if the companies have not considered the possibility we think they should. The companies have a lot to offer each other. AMD needs to expand its product line beyond the shrinking desktop market and explore emerging mini-server, notebook and device market, Transmeta offers the technology to let AMD do that. For Transmeta, AMD offers the stability of a respected name in the CPU business and offers the company into the corporate desktop and server market. dan.jones@computerwire.com
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