Transmeta worked in near-total secrecy for five years, and its hiring of Linux creator Linus Torvalds only deepened the mystery. In 2000 it revealed the Crusoe processor. The idea was striking: a simple, power-saving chip that used software to act like an Intel processor. It promised thin laptops with long battery life. The company went public in November 2000, one of the last big hardware offerings of the boom.

Code Morphing

Transmeta bet that it could beat Intel on power use by moving complexity from hardware into software. Its code morphing layer translated programs as they ran, which let the hardware stay small and cool. Some Japanese laptop makers adopted Crusoe for their thin, light machines. Performance fell short of expectations, and Intel answered with its own power-saving chips. Engineers still study Transmeta's approach.

From Chips to Patents

Transmeta priced its IPO at $21 a share in November 2000 and listed on Nasdaq. The shares rose sharply on the first day, then fell for years as chip sales stayed small. The company shifted toward licensing its power-saving technology, and it won a large patent settlement from Intel. Its ideas about saving power spread through the wider industry. In 2009 Novafora acquired Transmeta.

Cover: Three Caterpillars, a Moth, and Four Butterflies, from Diversae Insectorum...Figurae, Wenceslaus Hollar. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for caterpillars, a moth, and butterflies (metamorphosis).