Reports from Taiwan suggested that Rise had laid staff off last week. The staff no longer working there, according to a source who worked there, include the human resource and finance teams, as well as engineers. The source said that the company could now be up for sale. If true, that would mean another x86 rival to Intel has fallen by the wayside. Rise promised the world at CeBIT earlier this year that it would announce its fab partner and a big investor within weeks of the trade show at the Messe. So far, no confirmation of either partner has been received. Rise could not be contacted at press time. ®