Transmeta Aims at 1 GHz

Transmeta is raising the stakes in the battle of the notebook processors.

The company plans to begin shipping a 1-GHz version of its Crusoe processor in the third quarter of this year, a spokesperson for the company said Thursday. The plans were divulged during Transmeta's Crusoe Seminar in Tokyo.

Intel, which currently dominates the market , plans to begin shipping a low-power version of its Pentium 3 chip during the third quarter. Code-named Tualatin, the new chip will be produced using a 0.13 micron process. Samples of a notebook based on a 1.16-GHz version of the chip were on display by Intel at the recent Computex show in Taiwan.

Transmeta plans to officially announce the new chip and provide more details about it during the upcoming PC Expo show in New York, which begins on June 26.

The Crusoe Seminar is a daylong event aimed at Transmeta's Japanese customers, which make up the majority of its notebook personal computer customers.

Since Transmeta shipped its first processors around nine months ago, the company has attracted business from all major Japanese notebook PC makers, including Casio Computer, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Sony, Toshiba, and, most recently, Sharp.

The company views Japan as its most important market at present, especially given the low adoption rate of its processors by U.S. notebook makers. In an interview in Tokyo last month James Chapman, executive vice president of marketing, told IDG News Service the company also sees the Japanese market as a way into U.S. commerce.

"The marketing strategy has been, basically, win big in Japan with our Japanese partners and export that success to the U.S. through those partners," said Chapman. "Having success with Japanese companies puts us in a good position to partner with those companies to bring this type of technology to the U.S. market."