Re: [ee_shoppahs] X86 clones
- From: J Fields <j.email.fields@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ee_shoppahs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 17:56:39 -0700
Nexgen- so you know Atiz Raza?
I thought PA Semi was from a lot of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) guys
from Palo Alto, but makes sense they grabbed designers
from other places.
On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 3:54 PM, Jack L. Poller <poller@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I worked with the origins of the AMD team - they started out at NexGen,
> which was bought by AMD. The same team did Montalvo, Siara/RedBack,
> and PA Semi (I think). I was also with Chromatic Research, creating an
> x86 clone funded by SGS Thomson and the Koreans.
>
> Like the Cyrix team, they're really sharp. You have to be to create
> a processor.
>
> However, there are 3 fundamental issues that make it extremely hard to
> create a clone:
>
> * Resources - dollars, people, technology. Montalvo budgeted on the
> order of $80 million per year, with a staff of over 100 circuit
> designers. Chromatic had 100+ circuit designers as well.
>
> * Compatibility - Making sure that you are a perfect clone is
> extremely difficult. Montalvo's claim was that they had a working
> x86 VM. The designer of the VM was one of the first employees
> at Montalvo
>
> * Profit - Intel owns their own FAB. If you don't own your own
> (which is now a $5 Billion investment), you're at the mercy of
> the FABs. This is both a profit and time-to-market issue.
>
> Jack
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ee_shoppahs-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ee_shoppahs-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Laverdier
> Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 9:44 AM
> To: ee_shoppahs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ee_shoppahs] X86 clones
>
> Julian,
>
> Interesting subject, here's what I know of Cyrix.
>
> I worked for Cyrix - did the floating point unit in their
> 686 generation. That was a really smart bunch of engineers.
> They competed head to head with Intel for over 10 years, and
> survived by targeting the low end of the price curve. In other
> words, 70% to 80% of the performance for 40% to 50% of the cost,
> and their chips included graphics engines, and ALL of the peripherals
> built in (ports, keyboard ctlr , disk ctlr, memory ctlr etc).
>
> They accepted a takeover bid offer from National Semi, because they
> were having issues with the IBM fabs. National drove them into
> the ground in less than 2 years. Fab problems even worse - Sad story.
>
> L8R
>
> PS. Ran the sales tax concept past a conservative buddy here at
> Raytheon this morning - he liked it, said it was similar to the
> Value Added Tax (VAT) thing that has been making the rounds, but
> he lost me on some of the details.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 7/6/10, J Fields <j.email.fields@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> From: J Fields <j.email.fields@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: [ee_shoppahs] X86 clones
>> To: ee_shoppahs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 4:19 PM
>>
> http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/david-manners-semiconductor-blog/2010
> /07/suns-x86-clone.html
>>
>> "Cyrix, Rise Technology, Transmeta, IDT's WinChip,
>> Meridian, Metaflow,
>> MemoryLogix, Montalvo -
>> all of these were failed x86 clone attempts - and,
>> according to the
>> New York Times, there was nearly another x86 clone from
>> Sun."
>>
>> I don't know about "failed" since Cyrix sold millions of
>> their chip.
>>
>> Wonder what you guys think of the clone market?
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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