IBM’s power grab

In the spring of 2004, before it even shipped the Power5, IBM slapped the rough equivalent of an open source license on the Power5 CPU’s design. IBM set Power free not because it has no value to the company but because it has enormous value — just not in the United States.

The opening of Power was done under the Power Everywhere banner, a veneer that suggested a desire to build a grassroots alternative to Intel Inside. Power Everywhere evolved into Power.org, a global organization of 15 companies designed to push IBM’s processor platform, particularly in the potentially lucrative Chinese market.

If you’re cynical, you’ll write off Power.org as an image-polishing scheme. If you’re smart, you’ll see the move for what it is: IBM is telling the industry, “It’s come to this.” It had to give Power away and leverage Power overseas to free itself from lax and arrogant U.S. trade policies.

At its core, the plan is not to sell chips but to sell the knowledge and technology needed to help overseas companies make their own chips and integrate Power into their own products. It’s an attractive arrangement. Buy the advice of Power.org’s members if you want a quick start, or license the open Power architecture if you’ve got the means to produce it. Either way, when you’re through you won’t owe squat to IBM or anyone else. If money changes hands, it’s strictly at will.

IBM’s package of guidance includes new manufacturing methods that place an emphasis on simple, less extravagant chipmaking instead of the smaller/faster/denser contest we’re holding here.

IBM had the foresight to set up overseas operations to serve overseas markets, all under the

political shield of being just another player disseminating open technology. The Power.org club is a roster of companies that wants to distance itself from the policies, attitudes, and economic troubles that make U.S. exports a hard sell. Open software (Novell and Red Hat are part of Power.org) running on open hardware is an easy sell in countries that are wary of dependence on the U.S. economy and are displeased with the strings-attached attitude typical of U.S. tech players.

Asia and Western Europe will build trade relationships founded on trust now that there is more than one place to go to buy a chip or a computer. Consider the case of an African nation looking to jump-start its own tech economy. It won’t file a monster purchase order with Dell. It will tap Power.org or a similar operation and ask for help to create its own self-sustaining home market.

There are innumerable implications here. Power CPUs are going to rock China, which will have a ball making its own major-league CPUs to run its own Linux. Power-compatible chips from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, and so on will flood the world market. Meanwhile, each country will no longer have to go beyond its borders to buy computing technology. Buying homespun is good for business and good for nations.

Pretty creative. Creative enough to make me wonder why there were no U.S. government officials in Beijing for the official announcement of Power.org. Unfortunately, the Unites States has missed that boat. We can’t turn back the clock by slapping tariffs on imported advanced semiconductors, although I’m pretty sure we’ll try.

If you export technology, it would be wise to watch and learn.