AMD (AMD) Dumps Money Into Transmeta (TMTA)

In a move that is difficult to fathom, AMD (AMD) has put $7.5 million into preferred stock at Transmeta (TMTA). The stock is up 50% on the news to over $1.

But, in early June, Transmeta traded for $.28. AMD could probably have bought the entire company for $45 million. In the March quarter, Transmeta lost $19.2 million on $2.1 million in revenue.

According to AMD management: "Transmeta was a key ally in helping to bring our highly-successful AMD64 technology to market and has supported the widespread industry adoption of both AMD64 and AMD’s HyperTransport technology. Our investment will support Transmeta’s technology development work and AMD’s efforts to leverage Transmeta’s innovative energy-efficient technologies to the benefit of AMD’s customers."

Yes, that $2 million in sales did quite a bit for industry adoption of AMD’s technology.

Douglas A. McIntyre