It wasn't the Intel monopoly that dealt Transmeta, one of the highest-flying chip companies to come out of Silicon Valley, its ­mortal blow. The wound was self-­inflicted. The startup let down its customers, chip buyers for computer makers who had stuck their necks out to get their companies to use Transmeta's unproven but promising low-power processors.

When the Santa Clara, CA, company came out of stealth mode in January 2000, it was swept up on a wave of hype. It had the right technology to pioneer low-power microprocessors, which, because they use less battery power and throw off less heat than other chips, allow laptops to be both speedy and thin. If Transmeta had hit its performance and power targets, it could have taken leadership away from Intel -- which had focused mainly on cranking up the megahertz -- in the fastest-growing segment of the PC industry. Laptops are now close to half the market.