“Transmeta chief executive David Ditzel chuckles at the
memory of the sudden interest in the company’s trash weeks before
taking the wraps off its new, top-secret Crusoe computer
chip.“
“But with hundreds of millions of dollars of research on the
line, keeping the microprocessor’s specifications secret was no
laughing matter.”
“Ditzel and other employees at Transmeta’s sprawling low-rise
office complex, located in an area tightly packed with
semiconductor companies, kept a careful watch on the trash bins and
chased off several people, including one whose car bore the bumper
sticker of a well-known rival….”
“But in the game of spy vs. spy, few players are willing to
admit involvement unless caught in the act. In recent years,
admissions of unorthodox tactics have come from companies including
Microsoft Corp., America Online Inc., and, this past week,
Oracle.”