At Comdex Fall, Las Vegas, Transmeta showcases its first VLIW microprocessor. The newcomer is the highly-anticipated TM8000 CPU, which official brand name is going to be Astro. The novelty consumes less energy compared to Crusoe brethren, while offering more performance for end-users.

According to the initial plans that were confirmed today by Transmeta representatives, the company plans to start mass production of the Astro next year. The next generation 256-bit VLIW TM8000 chip requires a new version of the Code Morphing Software that is also available. The TM8000 is able to perform 8 instructions per clock thanks to the 256-bit VLIW architecture in contrast to 4 instructions performed by Crusoe CPUs; additionally, its power consumption is be 47% lower, while performance is said to be 2 or even more times higher compared to the TM5x00 series. By comparison, TM5800 CPU only consumes about 6.8W when working full speed at 900MHz. Transmeta Astro processor will be manufactured using 0.13 micron process from TSMC and its core clock will be about 1.4GHz at the launch. I wonder how low the power consumption will be if the chip is manufactured using thinner 90 nanometer technology.

Thanks to more advanced manufacturing technology, the Astro will cost only $120. Due to its increased performance and low price, Transmeta wants it to compete with Intel’s Banias processors. I have no precise information in regards performance of both in real applications, but keeping in mind Intel Banias’ relatively high price, we can definitely expect Astro to be popular in cheaper notebooks and other devices that require low power consumption.