In a strikingly Quixotic initiative, the first attempt to clone the PowerPC has begun at Silicon Valley based-Renaissance Semiconductors Inc. Officially the firm will only confirm that it is designing a high-end microprocessor and not going to join the growing pack cloning the iAPX-86. Sources, however, said the target architecture is the PowerPC and that the planned chip will run NT and the other operating systems PowerPC supports. Reputedly, the circuit will add value to the standard PowerPC architecture. But just what those added features will be remains unclear. As of now the Renaissance chip will not have iAPX-86 emulation in silicon, unlike the projects under way at MIPS Technologies Inc and IBM Microelectronics. The company is also not talking about a timetable for delivery yet, with sources indicating first silicon could be a year or so away. Shepherding it through its initial growing pains is Gordon Campbell, who started Chips & Technologies Inc, credited with almost single-handedly creating the independent chip set industry that helped make Intel Corp. These days he is chairman of Tech Farm, a firm he created to help start-ups. He is also chairing Renaissance.
