Crusoe Chip Stages Good Start but Experiences Some Challenges
May 28, 2001 (TOKYO) -- A half year has passed since the emergence of PCs equipped with a low-power microprocessor called "Crusoe" from Transmeta Corp.
Some Japanese makers are using the chip. They include Sony Corp., NEC Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd., and Casio Computer Co., Ltd. New types of Crusoe-based machines appeared at the business show held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (Big Sight) from May 22.
The PC makers make it clear that their engines are not provided by U.S. Intel Corp., and so the brand name of "Crusoe" is being established in Japan.
Previously, some time was required for U.S. chipmakers such as AMD Inc., Cyrix (taken over by VIA Technologies Inc. of Taiwan), Rise Technology Co. and NexGen (taken over by AMD) to succeed in getting their x86 processors installed in PCs designed and produced by various makers. Compared with those legacy chips, Crusoe has commanded publicity in the market in a shorter period of time.
The Crusoe processor has only been adopted in a certain segment of notebook computers. This processor uses software called "Code Morphing Software (CMS)" to convert 86-type instructions to its own embedded command sets and then execute them. This overhead handicaps Crusoe as compared with Intel's microprocessors working at the same frequency. Moreover, Crusoe chips seem to fall short of competing head-on against Intel's chips in terms of operating frequencies.
Therefore, the application of Crusoe chips is confined to some segments of products aimed at users requesting longer battery life rather than high-performance. Providing Crusoe processors for such products won't result in large profits, although it might become a topic of interest in the market.
According to Transmeta's report, it is obvious that the company is not in very good shape. Transmeta became a public company in November 2000 and reported its first account data in January 2001 (for the fourth quarter of 2000). Its sales turned out to be US$12 million, which drew much attention. Subsequently, its statement of accounts as of the end of the first quarter of 2001 reported sales of US$18.6 million, up 50 percent from the previous quarter, and its stock price rose.
Its sales may be hitting a ceiling. The company invests US$17 million per quarter in research and development. But this figure will simply eat up the sales. As the company had US$22 million in losses in the first quarter, it will be still in the red, even if sales double.
Thus, it must develop more business. Transmeta is aiming for the server market.
RLX Technologies Inc. of the United States, founded by engineers who spun out of Compaq Computer Corp., announced a Crusoe-based server machine in the United States on May 8. With a low-power microprocessor, a server can be compact. It also makes its footprint smaller and the cooling system of the server simpler. For this reason, as its key feature, the Crusoe-based server helps reduce the cost of ownership.
California's shortage of electric power provides a chance for such low-power server machines to become popular.
Nonetheless, it isn't easy for these servers to compete against Intel in the server market, where performance is the most valued. Even if Crusoe succeeds in winning part of the server machine market, it won't lead to a significant increase in sales.
Transmeta aims to appeal to users of notebook PCs on the basis of "power consumption" issues.
There is not much difference in user perceptions of performance by 500MHz and 1GHz processors; in other words, not many people feel a twofold increase in such a case. Even PC-related magazines and publicity articles issued by manufacturers cannot sustain a point of view of placing absolute trust in performance. So, Crusoe will have a good chance of expanding sales.
On the other hand, it is also true that paradigm shift of microprocessors cannot happen overnight. Users are not likely to change so soon. Generally speaking, they seem to still uphold a judgment that "nothing can surpass high-performance."
Two keys may provide a chance for Transmeta to survive.
First, the company should reduce its R&D budget and find a way to record a surplus while keeping the current sales level. The company spends US$17 million per quarter for R&D.
Secondly, Crusoe should be enhanced to have higher performance. If the CPU features not only low power consumption but also reasonable performance compared with competitors, it can make inroads into the desktop market. Fortunately, the software CMS of the Crusoe processor has an embedded instruction-scheduling technology called "dynamic compiler." The dynamic compiler is one of the technologies to which Intel pays attention, regarding it as a new method to make higher the performance of next generation processors.
According to David Ditzel, inventor of Crusoe and Chief Technology Officer of Transmeta, the company is allocating 80 percent or more of its resources in the development of the next-generation Crusoe.
The next-generation Crusoe will have dynamic compiler more highly tuned as well as double the number of x86-type instructions, which can be concurrently processed, up to 8 by changing internal commands.
Related stories:
'Crusoe' is in All Major Japanese Vendors' PCs: Transmeta
Intel Releases Microprocessors for Notebook PCs in Competition Against Crusoe
NEC, Casio Unveil Notebook PCs with Transmeta's Crusoe CPU
(Naoki Asami, Editor-in-Chief, Nikkei Electronics) |
