Robert Fleming & Co Ltd, a London investment bank, said its Moscow, Russia subsidiary Flemings UCB will shortly publish a memorandum of information connected with a $60m financing round for Elbrus International, the Russian chip designer that claims to be able to out-Intel Intel.
The memorandum will detail Elbrus’ financial requirements and status, its technical capabilities and company history. It will also deal with Russia, said Charles Blackmore, a director of corporate finance with Robert Fleming, London. The point here, Blackmore said is that this is not a Russia risk. We’re talking about the intellectual property of a Cayman Island registered company.
Moscow-based Elbrus needs new finance to complete a prototype chip that will emulate Intel’s 64-bit IA64 architecture in a 0.35 micron process capable of running as much as five times faster than the Intel original. The Elbrus E2K processor currently exists only as a computer simulation but the company says production could start within three years. Clearly, much will depend on whether Elbrus can achieve its goal of securing the required investment by the middle of 2000, and whether or not any investor will also be prepared to carry on development once a prototype is completed.
Elbrus’ best bet may be to attract the support of a foundry specialist, such as TSMC (the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), but Blackmore said it is keeping an open mind about any prospective investor.
