The Russian microprocessor startup firm which claims its E2K chip could give Intel's Merced-Itanium a run for its money, is claiming links with Transmeta, Cygnus, Avant! and Sun. Boris Babayan, scientific head of Elbrus, used to work for the Soviet Government and claims his team of architects pioneered a number of developments in architecture design. Those claims are hotly disputed by many senior chip architects in the US. In an interview with Lenin Prize Winner Babayan last year, The Register heard him claim that the Elbrus architectural approach beat Intel's Merced approach hands down on a number of fronts. And in June this year, Gordon Bell, a top Microsoft boffin, claimed that the Elbrus approach to microprocessor design definitely had a future. The Russian firm claims funding from the Moscow government and from a number of other investors. But it is also claiming on this Web site, in English, that it has a close relationship with mystery company start up company Transmeta and with arch-Intel rival Sun. Elbrus does not elaborate on the nature of this relationship; nor indeed does it explain the relationships it claims with a stack of other Western companies. Meanwhile, Transmeta's Web site has a vastly understated presence in typical post-technologist form. It used to claim: "This web page is not here yet" but has recently added "...but it is Y2K compliant". ® See also Top MS boffin votes for Russian Merced killer Russian chip scientist outlines Elbrus futures Moscow government to support Merced Killer Ex-Soviets seek $$$ for Merced Killer - Transmeta linked?