"Intel-killer" Transmeta sold off

 

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Posted on 18 Nov 2008 at 11:55

Transmeta, the company that was once hyped as a potential Intel killer, has been sold off for only $250m.

Transmeta launched its low-power Crusoe chips during the peak of the tech bubble in 2000. The company promised powerful mobile processors at a fraction of the power consumption of Intel and AMD processors.

Shareholders certainly bought the story. The company's shares rocketed from $21 to $46 shortly after its IPO. The company also brought in high-profile staff such as Linux guru Linus Torvalds and Doom developer Dave D Taylor.

Sadly, Transmeta never really lived up to its (largely self-generated) hype. The Crusoe processors failed to match the performance of Intel and AMD's chips, and in an era when processor megahertz was still the largest determiner of PC performance, the company failed to achieve mainstream adoption of its processors.

The firm has never posted a profit, and in 2005 it restructured to focus on chip design rather than manufacture.

Now it's been sold off to Californian video processor firm, Novafora, for $256m - or $19 per share. Interestingly, Transmeta has also announced a new patent licensing agreement with AMD, which sees AMD return its 700,000 Transmeta shares to the company.

"We believe the deal is a win for all our stockholders," says Les Crudele, president and CEO of Transmeta. "We have spent the past several months extensively exploring our strategic options and believe that the agreement with Novafora best serves the interest of our stockholders."

Tech bubble, RIP.

Author: Barry Collins