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In [[1994]] [[Apple]] and Exponential signed a joint development agreement and later that year they formed an agreement with [[Hitachi]] which agreed to manufacture their chip at their [[BiCMOS]] foundry. By [[1996]] with their chip just months away from [[engineering sample]], Apple's CEO, then [[wikipedia:Gil Amelio|Gil Amelio]] extended their agreement to gain exclusive rights to the chip for the first nine months of [[volume production]]. The deal included a $5 million prepayment - a payment Apple never delivered. | In [[1994]] [[Apple]] and Exponential signed a joint development agreement and later that year they formed an agreement with [[Hitachi]] which agreed to manufacture their chip at their [[BiCMOS]] foundry. By [[1996]] with their chip just months away from [[engineering sample]], Apple's CEO, then [[wikipedia:Gil Amelio|Gil Amelio]] extended their agreement to gain exclusive rights to the chip for the first nine months of [[volume production]]. The deal included a $5 million prepayment - a payment Apple never delivered. | ||
− | First samples of the X704 came back running at only 410 MHz, | + | First samples of the X704 came back running at only 410 MHz, 75% of the expected speed. Exponential attributed the issue to a bug in their custom design tools. This pushed back the deliver date to March of [[1997]]. Even then, the chip would have been considerably faster than the fastest chips on the market at the time - Intel's {{intel|Pentium II|Klamath}} which ran as high as 233 MHz. |
By February of [[1997]], the X704 was ready - hitachi delivered Exponential over 7,000 410-MHz chip. Apple was in a fairly bad shape at the time, with massive layoffs on the horizon; just a month later they acquired NEXT software for $430 million, bringing back Steve Jobs as an advisers and replacing key Apple upper management. Around the same time, Exponential displayed an X704-based machine to journalists at the LA [[wikipedia:Dreamworks|Dreamworks Studios]], running complex 3D animations and wowing the audiences. Following Exponential progress [[IBM]] announced a new chip: the {{ibm|Mach 5}}; the chip didn't actually arrive until 5 months later. While clocked at only 250 MHz, its considerably larger cache and wider datapath promised to match X704's performance. IBM chip was also to be manufactured on their new [[0.25 µm process]] (compared to X704's [[0.5 µm]]). Apple eventually went with IBM's chip but only for a short time as by 1998 they went over to PPC 750 series. In a meeting that took place on March 3 1997 Apple told Exponential that with the lay off of thousands employees they will no longer be able to design a system around the X704 chip. This decision had devastating consequences for Exponential which relied on Apple's deal which would've meant hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. | By February of [[1997]], the X704 was ready - hitachi delivered Exponential over 7,000 410-MHz chip. Apple was in a fairly bad shape at the time, with massive layoffs on the horizon; just a month later they acquired NEXT software for $430 million, bringing back Steve Jobs as an advisers and replacing key Apple upper management. Around the same time, Exponential displayed an X704-based machine to journalists at the LA [[wikipedia:Dreamworks|Dreamworks Studios]], running complex 3D animations and wowing the audiences. Following Exponential progress [[IBM]] announced a new chip: the {{ibm|Mach 5}}; the chip didn't actually arrive until 5 months later. While clocked at only 250 MHz, its considerably larger cache and wider datapath promised to match X704's performance. IBM chip was also to be manufactured on their new [[0.25 µm process]] (compared to X704's [[0.5 µm]]). Apple eventually went with IBM's chip but only for a short time as by 1998 they went over to PPC 750 series. In a meeting that took place on March 3 1997 Apple told Exponential that with the lay off of thousands employees they will no longer be able to design a system around the X704 chip. This decision had devastating consequences for Exponential which relied on Apple's deal which would've meant hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. |
Facts about "X704 - Exponential Technology"
designer | Exponential Technology + |
first announced | October 21, 1996 + |
full page name | exponential technology/x704 + |
instance of | microprocessor family + |
instruction set architecture | PowerPC + |
main designer | Exponential Technology + |
manufacturer | Hitachi + |
microarchitecture | X704 + |
name | X704 + |
package | CBGA-359 + |
process | 500 nm (0.5 μm, 5.0e-4 mm) + |
technology | BiCMOS + |
word size | 32 bit (4 octets, 8 nibbles) + |