To endorse its support for the technology, NEC also purchased a small percentage of Transmeta stock as part of the company’s sale of 25 million shares announced in December. NEC Electronics executive vice president Hirokazu Hashimoto said that by licensing LongRun2, it could complement its existing lower-power technology in markets such as wireless handsets, broadband networking and digital consumer electronics.
Transmeta would not be drawn on how many other deals are under negotiation but leakage problems are a major problem for the industry worldwide as it scales to 90nm and smaller transistors. The problem has become particularly acute with the rapid growth in mobile computing and portable consumer electronic devices.
Not only does LongRun address leakage problems, but also incorporates power management power management technology that allows the processor to automatically adjust its voltage and clock speed to meet the needs of applications running on the chip.
In demonstrations last year, Transmeta claimed that its Efficeon processor used 70 times less power when employing LongRun technology. While the industry is engaged in an urgent search for ways round the problem using new materials, Transmeta has the advantage that it is available now for CMOS chips.
Transmeta has been a poor stock market performer in the face of declining revenue and lack of major deal, but its stock rose 6.69% to $3.83 yesterday on prospects for the new technology.
No financial details of the NEC deal were disclosed. But while Transmeta will say little about other deals, the endorsement of its technology by NEC will raise hopes that it can sign up other major chipmakers and transform its financial prospects.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
