Oooooo, we hate it when our hopes get built up by a juicy headline, only to be deflated by the content of the article itself. When faithful viewer Jeremy tipped us off to a Reuters story with the tantalizing title of "Motorola spins off chip unit," we instantly had visions of the PowerPC breaking free of its Motorolan chains and finally getting the room it needs to grow. Unfortunately, despite that tantalizing headline, it turns out that this article isn't about a spinoff of Motorola's overall semiconductor unit, but rather the creation of Motorola's new "Thoughtbeam" subsidiary, which is focusing entirely on licensing its gallium arsenide chipmaking technology. Man, we haven't been this disappointed since we rented Kramer vs. Kramer only to discover it was a moving depiction of a man fighting for custody of his son, and not a recent summer blockbuster featuring the wacky hijinks of cloned Seinfeld characters.

As we've mentioned in the past, Motorola's gallium arsenide breakthrough is a major coup that will lead to some seriously eye-melting chip speeds (35 to 40 times faster than the ones out now), but apparently it's not a technology that's really suited to processors like the PowerPC-- it's more for chips that go in mobile phones, DVD players, and stuff like that. So, unfortunately, the creation of Thoughtbeam isn't likely to affect Mac speeds in any direct way, at least not for the next couple of years. But on the plus side, at least we'll all have cell phones that run really, really fast. Pinch us, we're dreaming.

However, since Thoughtbeam is a wholly-owned subsidiary, that means Motorola stands to rake in some serious moolah if this whole Valium-Arsenio chip thingy catches on in the biz. Thoughtbeam's raison d'être is to "commercialize" the technology and then license it to other chipmakers who want in on the secret recipe. The company has already hacked out a deal with a British semiconductor firm called IQE, so that may bode well for Thoughtbeam-- and therefore for Motorola. Here's hoping that some of those licensing fees get funneled into Motorola's "Let's Ship A 1 GHz PowerPC Before The Olsen Twins Die Of Old Age" fund.

So, accepting the premise that what's good for Motorola is potentially good for PowerPC development, we wish Thoughtbeam the best of luck and mountains of success. We think it'll do well; nifty technology aside, everyone knows that it helps to have a leader with a kickin' name, and seeing as Thoughtbeam is headed up by a woman with the zesty appellation of "Padmasree Warrior," the company clearly has a head start on the road to victory.