“Shares in Transmeta rocketed by 115 per cent on the US
startup’s first day of trading yesterday, despite fresh speculation
that Compaq and Toshiba have cancelled Crusoe projects.”
In a note issued to customers on Tuesday, Piper Bancorp analyst
Ashok Kumar claimed Compaq and Toshiba have scrapped plans to
develop Crusoe-based laptops, and that Intel is now targeting the
low-power market which Transmeta is focused on.
“However, representatives from both Toshiba and Compaq said they
are still evaluating the Crusoe chips and have not made firm
decisions. Recently a Toshiba UK executive expressed doubts about
Crusoe’s performance claims.”
“Trading in Transmeta shares began at $21 on Tuesday and
closed at $45.25 – putting a $5.7bn valuation on the Intel
contender. Transmeta had already sold 13 million shares at $21 to
institutional investors on Monday, beefing up its coffers by
$273m.“