Exponential Technology
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductor design |
| Predecessor | Renaissance Microsystems |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Founder | George Taylor, Jim Blomgren |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Fate | Ceased operations |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas (design team) , United States |
Key people | Rick Shriner (CEO), Paul Nixon (head of second design group) |
| Products | High-speed PowerPC microprocessors (Exponential X704), BiCMOS x86 processor (in development) |
Exponential Technology—initially known as Renaissance Microsystems—was established in 1993 by George Taylor and Jim Blomgren as a semiconductor design firm. The company specialized in creating high-speed PowerPC microprocessors utilizing BiCMOS technology, aiming primarily at the Apple Computer sector. Their architecture integrated 3-level ECL logic with CMOS-based RAM components. Rick Shriner held the position of CEO, while Hitachi was responsible for manufacturing.
The company's premier product, the Exponential X704, was promoted with a target clock speed of 533 MHz but initially operated closer to 400 MHz—still outperforming the 233 MHz PowerPC 604e processors found in Macintosh systems. Despite this advantage, constraints such as limited clock frequency and relatively small level-one CPU caches resulted in performance that was respectable but not outstanding. This performance profile enabled Motorola, Apple's longstanding processor partner, to emphasize its own development plans as a viable competitor, thereby diminishing Apple's dependence on the smaller startup.
As Apple encountered financial difficulties, Exponential redirected its efforts toward Macintosh clone producers including Power Computing and UMAX Technologies. Additionally, to broaden its product range, a second design group led by Paul Nixon in Austin, Texas, worked on developing a BiCMOS processor based on the Intel x86 architecture.
When Apple terminated the Macintosh clone market, Exponential lost its primary customers and subsequently ceased operations in 1997. The Austin-based design team persisted under the name EVSX, later rebranding as Intrinsity, Inc. in 2000 before being acquired by Apple in 2010.