I was working on PowerPC processors with IBM and Motorola in the late 90's. Back then, Apple's investment in Exponential was big news: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_/ai_17921250
It seemed then that Apple was using Exponential to put pressure on its partners (http://www.allbusiness.com/electronics/computer-equipment-co...), but Apple dropped the project abruptly (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_n2168_v43/ai_...), leaving their project so broke that it couldn't even offer severance to its laid-off employees.