Transmeta buys back Crusoe X86-compatible rights

In its IPO registration statement. Transmeta has divulged that it repurchased marketing and manufacturing rights to its Crusoe X86-compatible processors from IBM and Toshiba. Fees from those licenses provided all of Transmeta's revenue in 1997, 1998 and 1999. IBM and Toshiba still have rights to manufacture and sell Transmeta products but they are barred from using them to underpin an X86-compatible processor. Analysts wonder if Transmeta can effectively market its chip line head-to-head against Intel and AMD without a big ally, but Transmeta believes it can market silicon using IBM as its foundry. It has already signed a distribution deal and its OEM sales force is growing.

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