Montalvo Systems

In the world of semiconductors, ambition often runs parallel to enormous risk. This was the landscape for Montalvo Systems, a Silicon Valley startup that emerged with a bold plan to develop ultra-low-power x86-capable processors for mobile devices. The team was a collection of industry veterans, led by CEO Matt Perry, the former chief executive of Transmeta, another company that had tried to challenge the giants of the chip world. He was joined by co-founders like chief architect Peter Song and microarchitecture head Greg Favor. Their strategy was to create an asymmetrical processor, using high-performance cores for demanding tasks and simpler, power-efficient cores for minor ones, aiming to save energy and silicon. The company operated in Santa Clara, California, with additional offices in Colorado and India, growing to nearly 300 employees. After securing significant funding, Montalvo worked on its design, hoping to carve out a niche in the competitive mobile market. However, the immense capital required to bring a new chip to market proved to be a formidable barrier. By March 2008, the company was actively seeking funds to avoid a shutdown and had to lay off a significant portion of its engineering staff. The end of its independent journey came swiftly. In April 2008, Sun Microsystems acquired Montalvo's technology assets for an undisclosed sum, absorbing its intellectual property and personnel into its own microelectronics division.