AMD’s New Fab Spin Off Plan to be Blocked by Intel? Update: AMD Responds!
We have been reporting over the last two days, about AMD’s plan to split into 2 companies; AMD to concentrate on design, and The Foundry an expansion of their fabs. AMD got $8.4 Billion dollars from Abu Dhavi investors yesterday as we reported here:
http://alienbabeltech.com/wordpress/wp-admin/post-new.php
Today we hear that Intel has “serious questions” about AMD’s plan and it apparently centers on their cross-licensing patent agreement where AMD pays royalties to Intel.
The story broke here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0748080720081007
“Intel has serious questions about this transaction as it relates to the license and will vigorously protect Intel’s intellectual property rights,” Intel’s spokesman said of AMD’s plan.
Intel evidently asked AMD to make its agreement public, but they refused and Intel would not comment further. It appears like a lawsuit may be brewing and may cast doubt on AMD’s plans. Stay tuned to ABT for future developments.
Mark Poppin
ABT editor
UPDATE:
The very same day as Intel said it would review its processor licensing agreement with AMD, an AMD spokesman said their new deal does not impact the chip licensing agreement with Intel.
According to http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/AMD-Says-Manufacturing-Deal-Does-Not-Violate-Intel-Processor-Patents/ an AMD spokesman, Phil Hughes, wrote in an e-mail: “We are completely confident the structure of this transaction takes into account our cross-license agreements,” “Rest assured – we plan to continue respecting Intel’s intellectual property rights, just as we expect them to respect ours.”
It seems a bit sloppy to us that AMD would not have worked this out with Intel before making their announcement. Now it appears that AMD’S oversight or blunder may even allow Intel some leverage over them in their current litigation; if AMD wants their plan to go forward quickly, without new litigation and the inevitable delay associated with it.
