Transmeta's chips are on the block. The former supplier of low-power Intel-compatible processors said Wednesday that it is actively seeking a buyer, and also announced two agreements with Intel.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which has remade itself into a supplier of chip-related intellectual property, said that after exploring a range of "strategic alternatives" over the past few months and after strengthening its balance sheet, it will seek a sale as a way to "enhance value for all its stockholders."
Transmeta is working with financial adviser Piper Jaffray.
Back in February, Transmeta weighed an unsolicited offer from Riley Investment Management, which the company ultimately rejected. At that time, Riley claimed Transmeta had an unconvincing business strategy based on its LongRun2 technology--described by Transmeta as a suite of technologies for advanced power management and "leakage control." Riley claimed at the time that there was no "credible evidence" that shareholders would benefit from the LongRun2-related operating expenses.
Transmeta also announced Wednesday that it had entered into two agreements with Intel relating to the licensing of Transmeta technologies and intellectual property. The first agreement is a fully paid-up, nonexclusive technology licensing agreement that provides for the company to deliver "proprietary Transmeta computing technologies" to Intel and grants to Intel a nonexclusive license to use them.
The second agreement is an amendment to a previously announced settlement that Transmeta and Intel entered into on December 31, 2007, which granted Intel a perpetual nonexclusive license to all Transmeta patents and patent applications, including any patent rights later acquired by Transmeta before December 31, 2017.
That settlement provided for Intel to make five annual future payments to Transmeta of $20 million per year for each year from 2009 through 2013. "This amendment accelerates Intel's remaining future payment obligations under the settlement agreement," Transmeta said.
As a result, Transmeta expects to receive cash payments from Intel totaling $91.5 million before the end of Transmeta's current fiscal quarter ending September 30, the company said.
Microprocessor technology supplier Transmeta said it has received the initial payment of $150 million from Intel toward the $250 million settlement that the two companies agreed upon back in October. The payment was received on January 28, according to Sujan Jain, Transmeta's chief financial officer. Mr. Jain also said that Transmeta is evolving its business model to generate a more constant revenue stream.
Transmeta LongRun2
(Credit: Transmeta Corp.)Transmeta, previously a supplier of low-power x86 processors, now develops and licenses microprocessor technologies and related intellectual property. The company filed a lawsuit against Intel in October 2006 alleging that the latter infringed upon Transmeta's patents. Transmeta later settled with Intel for $250 million.
Last week, the company came under attack from one of its largest stockholders, Riley Investment Management, for what Riley claims is an unconvincing business strategy based on Transmeta's LongRun2 technology--described by Transmeta as a suite of technologies for advanced power management and "leakage control." Riley claims that there is no "credible evidence" that shareholders will benefit from the LongRun2-related operating expenses.
But Transmeta says it is making headway with LongRun2. Using this technology, NEC announced in July 2007 that it is targeting production of approximately one million mobile phone chips a month by 2008. As a result, Transmeta expects approximately $215,000 in LongRun2 royalty revenue that will show up in its first-quarter earnings, said Mr. Jain. That would be an improvement over its third-quarter earnings when Transmeta posted only $44,000 in revenue, including $43,000 of services revenue and $1,000 of license revenue for royalty payments.
Mr. Jain also said that Transmeta has been evolving its business model. Previously, Transmeta only dealt with big companies that had plenty of engineering know-how, due to the complexity of the technology transfer. But now it is focusing on building IP (intellectual property) modules to license to smaller, fabless chip companies too. The new strategy will help expand the LongRun2 business and should result in "more consistent revenues over time," Mr. Jain said.
Transmeta will provide details on how and when it will recognize the entire $250 million settlement from Intel during its 2007 fourth-quarter earnings conference call, said Mr. Jain.
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