Exclusive A pig with wings went flying over Santa Clara, as Intel hired former Transmeta chief David Ditzel.

Our sources reveal that Intel acquired Ditzel as a member of the Digital Enterprise Group (DEG), which tackles both server and PC products. Ditzel will work with Stephen Pawlowski, an Intel senior fellow and CTO of DEG. Beyond that, we know little about Intel's exact plans for El Ditz.

Ditzel counts as part of the microprocessor elite, having authored a famous paper on RISC (reduced instruction set computer) chips with Berkeley legend David Patterson along with serving as one of Sun's main SPARC architects and co-founding Transmeta.

In the good old days, Ditzel led Transmeta's efforts to try and revolutionize the mobile processor market by shipping a line of very low-power chips. Transmeta's own failings combined with a most aggressive Intel killed the company's serious hopes and dreams, leaving it today as an intellectual property house.

For its troubles, Transmeta managed to yank $250m out of Intel to settle a patent dispute.

Last April, Transmeta unceremoniously cut ties with Ditzel. Since that time, Ditzel was exploring the idea of firing up another start-up. We asked him about this and other topics in Sept.

We're not sure how Intel tempted Ditzel away from the start-up work but suspect money was involved. He's yet to return our request for comment, and Intel isn't talking. ®

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