Re: [ee_shoppahs] X86 clones
- From: "Jack L. Poller" <poller@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ee_shoppahs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 08:27:54 -0700
Yes, I know Atiq Raza. After the NexGen/AMD days, he
formed Raza Foundries, a startup incubator focused on
the networking space.
I created a verification consulting group there, making
sure that the companies we funded knew what they were
doing for verification, getting deals with vendors,
and providing resources (people, systems, licenses, etc)
as needed.
JLP
-----Original Message-----
From: ee_shoppahs-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ee_shoppahs-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of J Fields
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 5:57 PM
To: ee_shoppahs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ee_shoppahs] X86 clones
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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