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Centaur Technology
Centaur Technology was an x86 CPU design company started in 1995 and subsequently a wholly owned subsidiary of VIA Technologies. In 2015, the documentary Rise of the Centaur covered the early history of the company. The company was broken up in 2021.
Centaur Technologies Inc. was founded in April 1995 by Glenn Henry, Terry Parks, Darius Gaskins, and Al Sato.[citation needed] The funding was provided by Integrated Device Technology, Inc (IDT). The business goal was to develop compatible x86 processors that were less expensive than Intel processors and consumed less power.[citation needed] There were two main elements of the plan:[citation needed]
While funded by IDT, three different Centaur designs were shipped under the marketing name of WinChip. In September 1999, Centaur was purchased from IDT by VIA Technologies, a Taiwanese company. Since then, five designs have shipped with the marketing name of VIA C3, as well as a number of designs for the VIA C7 processor and their latest 64-bit CPU, the VIA Nano.[citation needed]
The VIA Nano design has been further refined and improved in chips produced by Zhaoxin (a VIA joint venture company).[citation needed]
In late 2019, Centaur announced the "World’s First High-Performance x86 SoC with Integrated AI Coprocessor", the CNS core.
In November 2021, Intel recruited the majority of the employees of the Centaur Technology division from VIA, a deal worth $125 million, effectively acquiring the talent and know-how of the x86 division. VIA retained the x86 licence and associated patents, and its Zhaoxin CPU joint-venture continues.
Centaur's chips historically have been much smaller than comparable x86 designs at their time, and they are thus cheaper to manufacture and consume less power [citation needed]. This made them attractive in the embedded marketplace.[citation needed]
Centaur's design philosophy was always centered on "sufficient" performance for tasks that its target market demands. Some of the design trade-offs made by the design team ran contrary to accepted wisdom.[citation needed]
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Centaur Technology
Centaur Technology was an x86 CPU design company started in 1995 and subsequently a wholly owned subsidiary of VIA Technologies. In 2015, the documentary Rise of the Centaur covered the early history of the company. The company was broken up in 2021.
Centaur Technologies Inc. was founded in April 1995 by Glenn Henry, Terry Parks, Darius Gaskins, and Al Sato.[citation needed] The funding was provided by Integrated Device Technology, Inc (IDT). The business goal was to develop compatible x86 processors that were less expensive than Intel processors and consumed less power.[citation needed] There were two main elements of the plan:[citation needed]
While funded by IDT, three different Centaur designs were shipped under the marketing name of WinChip. In September 1999, Centaur was purchased from IDT by VIA Technologies, a Taiwanese company. Since then, five designs have shipped with the marketing name of VIA C3, as well as a number of designs for the VIA C7 processor and their latest 64-bit CPU, the VIA Nano.[citation needed]
The VIA Nano design has been further refined and improved in chips produced by Zhaoxin (a VIA joint venture company).[citation needed]
In late 2019, Centaur announced the "World’s First High-Performance x86 SoC with Integrated AI Coprocessor", the CNS core.
In November 2021, Intel recruited the majority of the employees of the Centaur Technology division from VIA, a deal worth $125 million, effectively acquiring the talent and know-how of the x86 division. VIA retained the x86 licence and associated patents, and its Zhaoxin CPU joint-venture continues.
Centaur's chips historically have been much smaller than comparable x86 designs at their time, and they are thus cheaper to manufacture and consume less power [citation needed]. This made them attractive in the embedded marketplace.[citation needed]
Centaur's design philosophy was always centered on "sufficient" performance for tasks that its target market demands. Some of the design trade-offs made by the design team ran contrary to accepted wisdom.[citation needed]