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Transmeta and NEC Electronics Reach Agreement on Strategic Alliance for Low Power and Leakage Management
NEC Electronics Licenses Transmeta's LongRun2 Technologies and Discloses Equity Stake in Transmeta
Tokyo, Japan and Santa Clara, CA - March 25, 2004 -
Transmeta Corporation (NASDAQ:TMTA), the leader in efficient computing, and NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a world-leading semiconductor solutions provider, today announced the two companies have agreed on a strategic alliance. Under the agreement, NEC Electronics has licensed Transmeta's LongRun2TM Technologies for use throughout its 90, 65 and 45 nanometer generation semiconductor products, for low-power and transistor leakage management. Transmeta and NEC Electronics also announced that NEC Electronics has taken an equity stake in Transmeta, as a sign of a longer term relationship, purchasing a small percentage of Transmeta's common stock as part of Transmeta's 25 million share common stock offering which priced December 18, 2003.
LongRun2 Technologies address the semiconductor industry's growing problems of excessive chip heat and transistor leakage. LongRun2 Technologies are a collection of pioneering techniques expected to improve semiconductor devices by reducing total chip power, reducing standby power, reducing burn-in power, and potentially improving chip performance and reducing manufacturing costs. LongRun2 Technologies build upon Transmeta's first generation LongRun® power management technology which was the first capability of its kind to adjust MHz and voltage dynamically, hundreds of times per second, to reduce power consumption. LongRun2 extends this approach further with a new way to implement dynamic adjustments of transistor leakage and threshold voltages. This dynamic control is important in order to adjust leakage due to changes in runtime conditions, such as voltage and temperature, which are not predetermined when the chip is manufactured.
LongRun2 Technologies were first demonstrated in October 2003 in a Transmeta EfficeonTM processor.
Transistor leakage is becoming an increasing problem as semiconductor technology scales to smaller dimensions. Industry experts have called transistor leakage one of the fundamental challenges to Moore's Law of technology scaling. Leakage problems are expected to get progressively worse as the industry scales to 90nm and smaller transistors each generation. Leakage power could easily dominate total chip power and prevent low power standby operation if not controlled.
"NEC Electronics has been promoting research and development of low power technologies such as parallel processing, multi gate-oxide film and multi threshold voltage, targeting the markets requiring power efficiency management," said Hirokazu Hashimoto, executive vice president for NEC Electronics. "By licensing Transmeta's LongRun2 Technologies, we will be able to complement our existing low power technologies and lead the industry in markets such as wireless handsets, broadband networking and digital consumer electronics where low power is critically important."
"This alliance is an important endorsement of Transmeta's pioneering approaches to low power in semiconductor chips," said Dr. Matthew R. Perry, president and CEO for Transmeta. "Coupled with NEC Electronics' recent investment in Transmeta, we expect this strategic relationship to provide benefits to both companies for many years to come."
The two companies held a press conference and ceremonial signing event today in Tokyo to commemorate the agreement. Terms of the agreement were not announced.
About NEC Electronics Corporation
NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handsets, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets, and platform solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.am.necel.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.ee.nec.de). In addition to marketing, selling and supporting NEC Electronics products to customers in their respective regions, NEC Electronics America and NEC Electronics Europe also operate local manufacturing facilities in Roseville, California, and Ballivor, Ireland, respectively. Additionally,
NEC Electronics America for North America and NEC Electronics Europe for Europe are the sales and marketing channels of NEC AM-LCD and PDP modules.
For additional information
about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.
About Transmeta Corporation
Founded in 1995, Transmeta Corporation designs, develops and sells highly efficient x86-compatible software-based microprocessors that deliver a compelling balance of low power consumption, high performance, low cost and small size. We announced our first Crusoe® family of processors in 2000, and we introduced our new Efficeon family of processors in October 2003. Our products are valuable for diverse computing platforms demanding energy efficiency, low heat and x86 software compatibility. We also develop advanced power management technologies for controlling leakage and increasing power efficiency in semiconductor and computing devices.
To learn more about Transmeta, visit www.transmeta.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we will not necessarily provide updates of our projections or other forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties, and may differ materially or adversely from our actual results or future events. Important risk factors that could have material or adverse effects on our results include general economic and political conditions and specific conditions and volatility in the markets that we address, the rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders, market acceptance and adoption of our new products by our present and future customers and end users, difficulties in developing or manufacturing new and existing products in a timely and cost effective manner,
our dependence on third parties for sourcing materials and providing manufacturing services, intense competition and competitive pressures, patents and other intellectual property rights, and other risk factors. We urge investors to review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which describe these and other important risk factors that could have an adverse effect on our results. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.
Transmeta, Efficeon, LongRun and Crusoe are trademarks of Transmeta Corporation. NEC Electronics is either a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation. All other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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Information in the press releases, including product prices and
specifications is current on the date of the press announcement,
but is subject to change without prior notice.
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