Chip company Transmeta has sold its Crusoe product line to Culturecom of Hong Kong.
The deal, estimated at $15 million, will help Transmeta strengthen its ties in the Asian region, where it has spent most of the past year building out its presence and chip business.
Transmeta opened two new Asia-Pacific regional offices in order to keep up with the demand for its low-power chips. One is in China, and the other in South Korea, where it builds sales-channel and OEM
support on its x86-compatible Efficeon and Crusoe microprocessors.
Transmeta said the deal is subject to conditions, such as a technology export license from the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as to certain other third-party consents and the signing of a related services agreement with Transmeta.
The agreement calls for Transmeta to sell, through a combination of asset-purchase and licensing agreements, its Crusoe product line to Culturecom. In addition, Culturecom plans to license Transmeta’s 130-nanometer Efficeon technology in order to make and sell Efficeon-based products in China.
Culturecom said it would make up-front cash payments totaling $15 million to be escrowed pending the close of the transaction. In addition to the up-front payments, Culturecom said it would also pay royalties to Transmeta on sales by Culturecom of Crusoe and Efficeon products.
The transaction is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.
