Bird, I was thinking the same thing. There has been a lot of press lately about the losses that Fujitsu Corp.is taking. It would seem to be a very reasonable move on the part of some financialy orientated Executive to use the cheapest chips to lower the unit cost of production - even if not the most technologically superior. Perhaps someone can refute or confirm this about the Pentium chip's unit price (of course economies os scale apply also). Until the transmeta chip's advantage can be clearly demonstrated in this application this maybe seen by some OEMs (thankfully not all) as an advantage to INTEL. Any thoughts on this?

Offthewall, I read some other news and I seemed to get the idea that they supply the motherboard for HP for various products that they make. I assume that HP assembles others parts into their products much like a car manufacturer. Perhaps you or others may know more about this but I assume that this company is hoping to supply more product to HP for, among others, Tablet PCs. One question perhaps someone can answer is whether, with the Compaq-HP merger there is only one Tablet PC, using TMTA, that this company is offering. Anyone?

Wonder if somewould would help me on this one. Take a read through this press release:

http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/moren/191294

How does this relate to PC Tablet the HP is offering with the TMTA chip? Tatung has offered Tablet PC's that carry Intel. Is this another Tablet PC offering through HP or are they manufacturing the TMTA based Tablet PC. I'd appreciate it some might carify this for me. Thanks in advance.

UKBird, I e-mail a question on the drought conditions to this gentleman at the TSMC North American operations site. I thought you might like to read his response.


Your assumption that drought conditions in Taiwan are more severe in the North than in the South are correct. That said, there is zero impact on our Tainan operations. With regard to Hsin-Chu, the reservoir that serves Hsin-Chu Science Based Park are at normal levels so there is no impact on our Hsin-Chu operations either. We do, however, have contengency plans in place if they are needed. We strongly believe that contengency plans will not be needed, given the current weather conditions.
Thank you for inquiring.
chuck byers
CBYERS [cbyers@tsmc.com]

UKBird, I beleive if you check the map TSMC's fabs are mostly located in southern Taiwan which is not experincing the same drought conditions as the north. In the TSMC CC a while back the CEO pointed this out saying that the water issues were unlikely to cause any production disruption for this company.

MSN homepage has a feature on 3 new Sony Vaio notebooks. One happens to be using the TMTA chip. Unfortunately it's not the latest and greatest Sony transmeta based product or the best comparison but they are in the same ring with Intel and this is presumably being looked at by many in the US.

http://msn.zdnet.com/zdfeeds/msncobrand/reviews/0,13828,2858211,00.html

Interesting post noting link from Yahoo board. Take a read (TMTA mentioned). Anyone have any comment?

http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/06/04/story/0000138956

Thanks Modom, I appreciate the reply. Still, I wonder why you experienced that problem and what Intel and AMD might have that TMTA might not. By the way, how would you rate your P series compared to other notebooks? Regards.

Anyone hear of a new Fujitsu P series notebook coming out. The Fujitsu P series board have posts on the subject. They think it's being shipped in July. Anyone?

Thought this might be of interest:

From Bloomberg posted calendar of events through June 5th.

Wednesday, May 29

Tokyo: Transmeta Corp. holds marketing strategy press conference. Speakers include President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Perry. 1:30 p.m. Shibuya Q Front. <EOM>

Here is an excerpted message from a post on Yahoo:

I read the Windows XP magazin.
They compare the pacebook to the ViewSonic ViewPad 1000.

They say: "The Pacebook'c crusoe processor isn't an ideal partner for Windows XP because of its quirky design, althought it does offer the benefit of low power usage."


Does anyone have any insight into what is meant by the crusoe processor not being an "ideal partner" to Windows XP? I haven't read the article so I've not seen this comment in context to the rest of the article.

Thanks.

Here you go, have fun:

http://www.antelopetech.com/

Excellent. Thank you.

Weakside, good post and I have to agree with your conclusion. In the wall Street Journal Marketplace section today there is an add with a nurse holding a Fujitsu tablet PC with a "ultra-low voltage Mobile Intel Pentium III inside (that point in the add was not a subtle one as it is apparent Intel helped sponser this add and you can go the website at fujitsupc.com/pentablets). What do we know about this chip compared to Crusoe?

Weakside, while possibly not a big seller I still hope someone can point out some current Transmeta involvment. Regards

We shall see how this affects TMTA's "strong relationship" with TSMC indicated at the shareholder meeting.

I was reading the Yahoo board and there is a lot of speculation over new product introductions this year using TMTA, some with large number considerations. Given the current ramp-up at TSMC does anyone hear think that a ramp-up faster than currently being employed is possible? Somebody mentioned X box's conversation with an unidentified "third party" and resulting in a million sales. Even if this company wanted TMTA chips does anyone think that it would be remotely possible to supply those numbers within a year? Personally, I don't but I'd like to hear other opinions. I've found the Yahoo board very interesting, informative and useful but cooler heads usually prevail on this board!

I'd like to think you might be right. I'm not so sure that will happen but the next four quarters will be very interesting. Anyway, I agree will Bird, you guys have excellent posts and they have been a very good read!

Thank you to everyone for the posts on this subject. Even though this company's revenue increases may be remarkable it seems the best we can reasonably hope for is a breakeven in mid to late 2003. I'd welcome that and an advancement like that would be noticed by the institutional investors. Still I'd, as well as you I'm sure, would like to see their presence expanded in the US. Thats when this stock will take off IMO. The next several quarters should be very interesting and I will keep these posts to see how they compare. Regards.

I'd like to know if anyone has contemplated a break-even production volume range for this company. I believe the thinking is that they are currently in the range of between 5K and 10K per month. Any thoughts on what kind of volume would produce a break-even. I realize plenty of assumptions would be built in but I'd like to read your best guess. Anyone!?!

Weakside, I've seen you post over on Yahoo from time to time. Besides this board and that one are there any other good sites for TMTA discussion?

Additionally, I find it amazing how the sentiment runs when this stock is up or down. Even from some of its cheerleaders, especially on Yahoo. Thanks to people out there such as yourself that put links, facts and rational discussion on these boards. Best regards.

Thank you UKBird for the analysis. Your book over bill analysis is very insightful. Is that something you have seen numbers on or is it seculation on your part? I was wondering whether the apparent increase in demand can be substantiated in any way. From the CC by transmeta they indicated expected increase and it seems that OEM's are releasing products with their chips but it would be nice to see some actual verification. By the way you seem to write in a way that implies some inside track into these companies. Is that due to diligent research or are you associated in some way? Cheers.

Thanks Weakside. You are undeniably correct about the production issue. I am seeing alot of evidence to indicate that that demand is there but the bottom line is how many chips can they deliver. I hope some indication of that front is given at the shareholder meeting but it isn't usually a topic. By the way I see that from the TSMC conference call that 1% of their production is 13 micron. I wonder what that translates to in numbers and how much of that is TMTA. Thanks for the reply. Regards.

Weakside, is there any way to gage the TMTA chip production on a regular basis?