Sony licenses Transmeta's LongRun2

Transmeta announced today that it has licensed its LongRun2 power management and transistor leakage control technology to Sony Corporation.

LongRun2 features dynamic adjustment of megahertz and voltage hundreds of times per second to reduce power consumption. It also uses a proprietary approach for dynamically adjusting transistor threshold voltages to control leakage.

The technology is designed to address the problems of excessive chip heat and transistor leakage, which the firm predicts will get progressively worse as successive manufacturing technologies scale down to smaller dimensions.

Transmeta claimed that LongRun2 can improve semiconductor devices by reducing total chip power, standby power and burn-in power, and lowering manufacturing costs.

"LongRun2 represents a major practical innovation that addresses the problems of exponentially rising leakage and power consumption facing the semiconductor industry," said Bijan Moslehi, senior vice president of the Noblemen Semiconductor Technology Research & Strategy Division.

"I expect that the implementation of these ground-breaking technologies will benefit the consumer significantly by increasing performance, lowering costs, improving battery life and, ultimately, improving the overall consumer experience."