MicroUnity
Encyclopedia
MicroUnity is a private company located in Santa Clara, California
. The company was one of the first promoting Mediaprocessor
s, that is, CPUs tailored for digital media such as digital video and digital audio streams.
(one of the earliest RISC CPUs). Craig Hansen is the chief architect, a role he held earlier at MIPS. The company kept its initial product secret until 1995 when it debuted at a computer industry conference.
techniques, new microarchitecture
and instruction set
features, advanced system design and packaging. To fund these wide range of activities, the company raised over $200 million. The company was funded by such industry giants such as Microsoft
, Hewlett-Packard
,
TCI
(now AT&T
Broadband), Time Warner
, Cox Communications
, Motorola
and Comcast
,
among others. William Randolph Hearst III
, one of the major investors in TCI was also a major investor in MicroUnity. It was one of the last start-up companies to build its own semiconductor fabrication plant.
Their product consisted of multiple chips - the mediaprocessor, a companion chip, a specialized memory interface device. Moussouris used the term agile processors to describe software-programmable devices which could replace a multitude of fixed-function devices. The company built a prototype system using their proprietary BiCMOS
semiconductor process. This system achieved its target frequency of 1GHz
but proved to be too power hungry to be used in its target markets such as cable or satellite set-top box
es. A follow-on system was built using the more common-place CMOS
process, but the follow-on only ran at 300MHz. Neither systems attracted any customers due to their high cost and power dissipation.
. In 1999, this CAD tool division of
MicroUnity was sold to ASML Holding
.
In 2005, the company received $300 million as settlement for a patent infringement lawsuit against Intel. The lawsuit alleged that MicroUnitys' patents on SIMD
instructions and multithreading
were violated. The company is currently pursuing litigation against other technology companies.
Within Silicon Valley
, MicroUnity was known as one of most secretive and ambitious start-up companies. It was extremely unusual for a start-up company to pursue innovations in several fields simultaneously - semiconductor processing, system design, chip architecture, software algorithms. It was also known as one of the largest financial failures among start-up companies in the history of high-tech business. Given the company's overly ambitious goals, Silicon Valley insiders had nicknamed the company MicroLunacy.
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
. The company was one of the first promoting Mediaprocessor
Mediaprocessor
A media processor is a microprocessor-based system-on-a-chip which is designed to deal with digital streaming data in real-time rates...
s, that is, CPUs tailored for digital media such as digital video and digital audio streams.
Founders
The company was founded in 1988 by John Moussouris, who was one of the founders of MIPS Computer Systems and one of designers for the IBM 801IBM 801
The 801 was an experimental minicomputer designed by IBM. The resulting architecture was used in various roles in IBM until the 1980s. The 801 was started as a pure research project led by John Cocke in October 1975 at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. The name 801 comes from the building the...
(one of the earliest RISC CPUs). Craig Hansen is the chief architect, a role he held earlier at MIPS. The company kept its initial product secret until 1995 when it debuted at a computer industry conference.
Funding
The company's initial product plans included advanced semiconductor fabricationSemiconductor fabrication
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create the integrated circuits that are present in everyday electrical and electronic devices. It is a multiple-step sequence of photolithographic and chemical processing steps during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer...
techniques, new microarchitecture
Microarchitecture
In computer engineering, microarchitecture , also called computer organization, is the way a given instruction set architecture is implemented on a processor. A given ISA may be implemented with different microarchitectures. Implementations might vary due to different goals of a given design or...
and instruction set
Instruction set
An instruction set, or instruction set architecture , is the part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external I/O...
features, advanced system design and packaging. To fund these wide range of activities, the company raised over $200 million. The company was funded by such industry giants such as Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
,
TCI
TCI
-Medicine:*Transient Cerebral Ischaemic attack, see Transient ischemic attack*Tricyclic antidepressant medication*Target Controlled Infusion, a method for controlling intravenous infusions.-Psychology:*Theme-Centered Interaction, a method of psychotherapy by Dr...
(now AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
Broadband), Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
,
among others. William Randolph Hearst III
William Randolph Hearst III
William Randolph Hearst III became president of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation in early 2003. Son of William Randolph Hearst, Jr...
, one of the major investors in TCI was also a major investor in MicroUnity. It was one of the last start-up companies to build its own semiconductor fabrication plant.
Their product consisted of multiple chips - the mediaprocessor, a companion chip, a specialized memory interface device. Moussouris used the term agile processors to describe software-programmable devices which could replace a multitude of fixed-function devices. The company built a prototype system using their proprietary BiCMOS
BiCMOS
BiCMOS is an evolved semiconductor technology that integrates two formerly separate semiconductor technologies - those of the analog bipolar junction transistor and the digital CMOS transistor - in a single integrated circuit device....
semiconductor process. This system achieved its target frequency of 1GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
but proved to be too power hungry to be used in its target markets such as cable or satellite set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es. A follow-on system was built using the more common-place CMOS
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
process, but the follow-on only ran at 300MHz. Neither systems attracted any customers due to their high cost and power dissipation.
Failure
With this failure, the company decreased it headcount from a peak of 200 to a small handful of employees. For several years, the company survived by selling a CAD tool dealing with Optical proximity correctionOptical proximity correction
Optical proximity correction is a photolithography enhancement technique commonly used to compensate for image errors due to diffraction or process effects...
. In 1999, this CAD tool division of
MicroUnity was sold to ASML Holding
ASML Holding
ASML is a Dutch company and the largest supplier in the world of photolithography systems for the semiconductor industry. The company manufactures machines for the production of integrated circuits , such as RAM and flash memory chips and CPUs.-Products:...
.
In 2005, the company received $300 million as settlement for a patent infringement lawsuit against Intel. The lawsuit alleged that MicroUnitys' patents on SIMD
SIMD
Single instruction, multiple data , is a class of parallel computers in Flynn's taxonomy. It describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data simultaneously...
instructions and multithreading
Multithreading (computer hardware)
Multithreading computers have hardware support to efficiently execute multiple threads. These are distinguished from multiprocessing systems in that the threads have to share the resources of a single core: the computing units, the CPU caches and the translation lookaside buffer...
were violated. The company is currently pursuing litigation against other technology companies.
Within Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, MicroUnity was known as one of most secretive and ambitious start-up companies. It was extremely unusual for a start-up company to pursue innovations in several fields simultaneously - semiconductor processing, system design, chip architecture, software algorithms. It was also known as one of the largest financial failures among start-up companies in the history of high-tech business. Given the company's overly ambitious goals, Silicon Valley insiders had nicknamed the company MicroLunacy.