(Transmeta Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, www.transmeta.com) A chip design firm that was founded in 1995 by David Ditzel. The company retained a low profile until 2000 when it announced its Crusoe processor, an x86-based CPU that uses less battery power.

Crusoe chips were designed for running Windows and Linux applications in operations where there is a benefit to fanless, low-power consumption, such as on desktops, within embedded systems, thin clients and handheld devices. In 2003, the Efficeon family of processors was introduced, offering 50% greater performance per clock cycle than the Crusoe on typical applications. See Crusoe processor.