New chip will feature 90-nanometer manufacturing Transmeta Corp. isn’t launching its first-generation Efficeon processor until next week but the company has already begun talking about the second-generation version of the chip.Efficeon, or TM8000, is taking over from the Crusoe processor as Transmeta’s main processor for notebook computers and will be officially launched on Oct. 15. It offers performance increases of about 50 percent over the Crusoe, according to the company.The first-generation version of the chip, that will be launched next week, will be built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on one of the company’s 0.13-micron (130-nanometer) production lines, said David Huerta, a spokesman for Transmeta in Tokyo. Lines such as that at TSMC are capable of producing chips whose smallest circuits are 130 nanometers in width. A nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter.On Tuesday, the Santa Clara, California-based company said it has contracted with Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd. to manufacture the second-generation version of the chip. It will be built on a more advanced 90-nanometer production line that Fujitsu is constructing at its Akiruno Technology Center in Tokyo.Volume production of the Efficeon is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2004, said Transmeta. The company didn’t give away further details of the 90-nanometer version of the chip except to say it will offer a “strong performance upgrade” over the first-generation version. A step up in semiconductor production technology, such as that from 130 nanometers to 90 nanometers, usually brings with it higher performance and lower power consumption for chips. Most major chip makers have just begun or are just about to begin production on 90 nanometer lines. Technology Industry