Intel Pulls Out $1.25B to Settle All AMD Problems

[krazyderek]

I guess that's how AMD makes a profit these days... lol

 

[robwright]

[citation][nom]joeman42[/nom]A solid deal for AMD and a bargain for Intel. AMD could have potential scored much more in court, but it would probably have taken about a decade more in appeals and counter suits to prevail. They wouldn't have lasted that long.[/citation]

Agreed. It's unrealistic to think AMD could have scored a multi-billion dollar judgment in the next 5 years, and even if they did, Intel would appeal and it'd be another 10 years before that would be resolved. For Intel, 1.25 billion is a bargain. It's more the perception that Intel caved and now AMD's claims are validated. Intel looks like a bully and now virtually every government is watching them like a hawk.

 

[Drag0nR1der]

I think the clincher for AMD in this deal, isn't the money, its the agrrement from intel to drop their requirement that AMD produce the majority (or any) of their chips in-house. Which is THE most important part of the deal as it allows AMD to pursue the business model they have wanted to for a number of years now. I can't believe Tom's didn't even mention this! shocking.

The new cross license deal is essentially renewing the old one, but with this one major omission from it.

as said above Anandtech has an excellent article on this.

 

[audioee]

Does the cross licensing include graphics or just CPU? Core i11 6 core cpu with 400, 800, 1600 stream processors?

Intel probably could have bought AMD for that much? AMTEL CPUs anyone?

 

[tempelife]

AMD needs the money NOW. Don't underestimate 1.2B. This money will give them over 5.2B liquid, and they owe about 2.1B in short-term debt. The extra will enable AMD to pay debt service for their longer term debt of 5.2B. On paper AMD will actually show a NET POSITIVE Balance Sheet for the first time in a long time.

In 5 years, we will all have affordable 22nm (and probably 16 or 32 cores) with an effort already in the works for 2 years hitting the 16nm mark. By this time, a completely different architecture of CPU may need to be designed since you can't keep shrinking much passed 16nm. Quantum computing with the manipulation of electron spin would be awesome. Your desktop would essentially be what we call a supercomputer today.

 

[vertigo_2000]

Does AMD now have access to Intels High K Metal gate (or whatever it's called) technology??

 

[pocketdrummer]

[citation][nom]skora[/nom]Maybe this is from the Yes Men.How much of the 1.25b is left after AMD has to pay their lawyers?[/citation]

Or rather, how much is left for the company after the lawyers get paid and the Big Wigs get their bonuses? (You remember what happened with the "bailout" don't you?)

 

[fonzy]

That's a lot of blow.

 

[christop]

good pay up!!!

 

[trinix]

I bet the fact that they now can continue to produce x86 chips is what really pushed them to take this deal, rather than the money. Sure 1.25B is nice, but what's a 5 year fight with no license to make cpus.

If I'm not mistaken they had a lot of trouble lately with the license. Intel wanting to revoke it, not extent it or something like that. And if GF can now make their chips or any other company, AMD is going to be able to get better.

AMD wins in this all, Intel doesn't lose as much as they could have if they had continued down the road of lawyers and judges.

 

[buzznut]

[citation][nom]haricotvert[/nom]To quote the NY Times, "However, the Intel-AMD settlement does not end separate antitrust actions against Intel by government bodies in the Europe, Asia and the United States."This is Intel's way of getting AMD off their backs for another 5 years or so, and is more or less a tacit admission that they would lose a legal battle in the end - one that could potentially be more costly than the $1.25 billion they are shelling out here. In fact, they stated that themselves:"The final negotiating point, Mr. Otellini said, was how much Intel would pay A.M.D. He said that it pained him to write such a big check, but $1.2 billion might well be a 'small multiple' of the company’s potential liability if it lost a jury trial in Delaware."But no, it certainly doesn't affect the antitrust lawsuits already filed by government entities (Korea, the European Union, and now New York).Granted, it's hard to try and recoup losses from bygone years, regardless of how ill-gotten those gains might have been. I think AMD acknowledges that the only way they will get market share back is to focus more on development and their new GlobalFoundries fab. The government antitrust lawsuits don't funnel any money into AMD anyways - it would just be in the form of fines that would go straight back into government coffers.In other words, AMD will gladly take that money and run with it, and let Intel continue to be caught up with government watchdogs.[/citation]

If all that is accurate, its a hell of a lot more informative than the article itself.

 

[JimmiG]

[citation][nom]yang[/nom]I sure would like to be the lawyer who took a percentage cut out of the 1.25 billion dollars.[/citation]

But what happens when the transition to x86-64 is complete? At some point everything will be 64-bit so x86 won't really matter. At that point, what power does Intel have over AMD? Or is x86-64 based on x86 to the point where the same licensing applies?

 

[cyborg_trader]

I'm a stock & option trader and tech enthusiast. I trade Intel stock almost exclusively, but I only build Rigs using AMD chips. Intel received a slap on the hands today. I understand that AMD should take the settlement, versus staying tied up in court with Intel(long long money), which would hamper AMD in the long run. What is missing is when AMD made that leap above Intel with the FX platform & Opteron chip set. Correct me if I am wrong.

AMD had a solid lead on Intel, but with Intel's BS and hampering AMD in the market place, forced AMD to cut R&D thus, losing the tech edge on Intel. That can not be accounted for in the $1.25 billion settlement. Many of you know the deal Intel & Microsoft struck with the release of Vista, even though Intel chips were not ready to handle Vista and AMD's chips were.

All in all, AMD currently is the loser despite the stock being up 20% today. I hope that if AMD is allowed to compete "fairly" they will get their MOJO back. I loaded up on Intel stock and options today, for this is a big win for Intel, just watch the stock price going into the New Year. Closing, I could care less what Intel i7 can do(just the stock), AMD all the way baby!

 

[haricotvert]

[citation][nom]buzznut[/nom]If all that is accurate, its a hell of a lot more informative than the article itself.[/citation]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/technology/companies/13chip.html

 

[dheadley]

I wonder if this means Intel motherboards will be crossfire only going forward. If Nvidia can't make chipsets for the new architecture and AMD gets the rights to do so you may see AMD integrated chipsets and crossfire support as the only alternative in the future for Intel and AMD chips. Would leave Nvidia out in the cold.

 

[mcvf]

[citation][nom]vertigo_2000[/nom]Does AMD now have access to Intels High K Metal gate (or whatever it's called) technology??[/citation]

No. But they have probably shared some standard patented technologies like SSExx SSEx.1 etc.

 

[zerapio]

Maybe with this AMD will be able to post a profit. How sad.

 

[DjEaZy]

... AMD may not have the CPU performance crown, but in the GPU department intel is dependent on nVidia/AMD patents, and the larrabee is a flop... so... intel understands... without a good GPU, extreme CPU haz no sense...

 

[apache_lives]

1.25b? how much is AMD actually worth again?

 

[powerbaselx]

Basically Intel is avoiding much more troubles like the ones they were fined recently, which can happen again and they know that. And they know also how important is that money for AMD which is technological one step behind... :-(
So, no more dirty business practices from Intel and a 5 years time for AMD to invest 1.25b to improve its technology during this recovery period.

 

[gekko668]

Well I hope Hector Ruiz wont get a piece of that pie

 

[bigght]

This may be a small $$ for AMD, but AMD couldn't wage a drawn out court battle, so they took the best offer they saw as worth it. But this doesn't look good for Intel, as it proves guilt on their part. With the NY case looming, it won't take a "buyout" to settle that case. NY State will go after Intel even harder now, as will other anti-trust suits.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

This should at least have been a article in red text. This is extremely important...

 

[thomasxstewart]

Intel & AMD Work Closely thru Legalized Exchanges of Technical FACTS. If Only One Company Existed, New Equipment would be compromised by equipment already in place, too hard to divert from 100% compatible. By haveing second company, Intel by time new product Is introduced old stuff is mostly gone & compatibilities with old equipment under that mfg name isn/t really needed, as Other comapny so FAR Ahead. Its good way to develope very complex switching & software.

SignedHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.

 

[Guest]

Jeez... That's not nearly enough money considering what Intel has done... I guess it's still good news though...