iXBT Labs - Computer Hardware in Detail

Platform

Video

Multimedia

Mobile

Other

Latest News


 « Previous Day News Archive  

Transmeta samples 90nm Efficeon, but quarter results are poor

At the dedicated press conference Transmeta officially informed on sampling of new-generation Efficeon processors made at Fujitsu fab using 90nm process. The company assured this launch is even ahead of schedule. According to Matthew R. Perry, Transmeta CEO, the company will be shipping limited commercial quantities in mid-2004, while ready solutions should go on sale in H2 2004 — Spring 2005.

If you remember, the second Efficeon generation to be made at Fujitsu fabs using 90nm process was scheduled to H2 2004. This transition will enable to reduce Efficeon chip size from 119mm² to 68². At that not only clock rates, but model names are to change.

2nd Efficeon generation TM8800 TM8500 TM8820
Modification Basic Inexpensive Compact
L1 instruction cache 128KB
L1 data cache 64KB
L2 cache 1MB 512KB 1MB
Body size 29x29mm 21x21mm
Package FC-OBGA 783

Already now Transmeta declares the following power consumption rates of basic 2G 90nm Efficeon TM8800 chips.

TM8800 Efficeon core clock Power consumption
1GHz 3W
1.4GHz 5W
1.6GHz 7W
1.8GHz 12W
2.0GHz 25W

Well, it would be good, if everying goes as planned. I guess the most important thing for Transmeta now is to catch the moment, when its chips offer good performance/price/consumption. Otherwise the experience of Crusoe TM5800 will repeat and the novelty will arrive in mass quantities half a year later than it should.


Now sad financial news. In Q1 that finished for Transmeta on March 26, 2004, the company earned $5.2 million at the dead loss of $23.4 million. A year ago it was $6.0 million and $20.1 million, while in Q4 2003 numbers were $21.9 million and $3.6 million, respectively. You can consider $5.2 million the 44% growth comparing to the previous quarter, but also considering the loss...

Transmeta´s balance is still about $113 million (vs. $120.8 million in December) that will be enough for the near future.

The quarter benefits include licensing the proprietary LongRun2 energy saving to NEC and the release of Efficeon TM8600-based notebook (actually there´s only a single model — Sharp Actius MM20) that has been selling in Japan for several months and has recently arrived to USA.

Company´s closest plans are not that dim in general. In May Japanese PC builder, JMNet, is going to introduce Efficeon-based Wake blade series to the local market; Vulcan venture founded by Paul Allen is actively promoting its FlipStart mini PC on Crusoe TM5800. Besides, there are some more systems to be based on Transmeta: Densitron Technologies is to offer DPX-114 single-board PC, Dialogue Technology introduced ultra light Flybook at CeBIT 2004, IBM Japan announced PC Core System mini PC prototype, Kontron released industrial PC of PC104 form factor, and Teco Electric and Machinery unveiled its TECO Thin Client TR5670-XPe.

It´s generally good, but the company expects losses in Q2 as well: about $20.5-21.5 million at assumed 25% sales growth as well as reserves reduction to $85.0 million by June (mostly due to license payments.)

P.S. I hope we´ll get a sample notebook on Efficeon TM8600 someday for testing, so you, our readers, know how it performs at least.

 « Previous Day News Archive  

Write a comment below. No registration needed!




blog comments powered by Disqus

  Most Popular Reviews More    RSS  

AMD Phenom II X4 955, Phenom II X4 960T, Phenom II X6 1075T, and Intel Pentium G2120, Core i3-3220, Core i5-3330 Processors

Comparing old, cheap solutions from AMD with new, budget offerings from Intel.
February 1, 2013 · Processor Roundups

Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill, Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti Graphics Cards

A couple of mid-range adapters with original cooling systems.
January 30, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1

An external X-Fi solution in tests.
September 9, 2008 · Sound Cards

AMD FX-8350 Processor

The first worthwhile Piledriver CPU.
September 11, 2012 · Processors: AMD

Consumed Power, Energy Consumption: Ivy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridge

Trying out the new method.
September 18, 2012 · Processors: Intel
  Latest Reviews More    RSS  

i3DSpeed, September 2013

Retested all graphics cards with the new drivers.
Oct 18, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, August 2013

Added new benchmarks: BioShock Infinite and Metro: Last Light.
Sep 06, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, July 2013

Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 and AMD Radeon HD 7730.
Aug 05, 2013 · 3Digests

Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB Golden Sample Graphics Card

An excellent hybrid of GeForce GTX 650 Ti and GeForce GTX 660.
Jun 24, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

i3DSpeed, May 2013

Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770/780.
Jun 03, 2013 · 3Digests
  Latest News More    RSS  

Platform  ·  Video  ·  Multimedia  ·  Mobile  ·  Other  ||  About us & Privacy policy  ·  Twitter  ·  Facebook


Copyright © Byrds Research & Publishing, Ltd., 1997–2011. All rights reserved.