Samsung's Exynos SoC Could Be Built Entirely In-House, In Time For Galaxy Note 5

[Guest]

Samsung is working on GPU technology that may be inside the Galaxy Note 5 along with its own custom CPU core.

Samsung's Exynos SoC Could Be Built Entirely In-House, In Time For Galaxy Note 5 : Read more

 

[g00fysmiley]

I thought AMD's x86 licence was nontransferable. I know it cannot be sold but I wonder even if (and it is a big if) samsung decided to buy AMD and AMD let them (they probably would) would that leave only VIA and Intel as the sole x86 producers meaning only on real choice?

 

[fuzzion]

Samsung shareholders would never permit them to purchase AMD. Though the idea is interesting.

 

[gggplaya]

Samsung shareholders would never permit them to purchase AMD. Though the idea is interesting.

Yes they could, my company purchased part of another company in a similar manner. They basically formed an entity dedicated to our market, a market in which they weren't in before. We pay them for projects, and they siphon employees to work on said projects until they are complete, then move those employees back.

AMD could split off an AMD mobile division and do something similar. Samsung would only own that portion of the company, which depending on the profit, could represent a small or large portion of the company.

 

[InvalidError]

AMD could split off an AMD mobile division and do something similar. Samsung would only own that portion of the company, which depending on the profit, could represent a small or large portion of the company.

But the non-transferable x86 license would prevent the spin-off from doing x86-based chips. If AMD decided to have a joint-venture mobile division, it would have to be ARM-based.

 

[sykozis]

While it's my understanding that AMD's x86 license is non-transferrable, there's really very little stopping Samsung from acquiring AMD and continuing to produce x86 processors. Since the license is necessary to compete in the desktop PC market, Intel has no choice but to license out the "tech" to anyone that wants it. Intel can not legally prevent any company from entering the x86 chip market. Doing so would open up Intel to legal issues they don't want. Since VIA doesn't compete with Intel in the consumer market, they're of no help to Intel. There's really no reason to even mention VIA when speaking of x86, being that their only real presence is in the embedded market.

 

[Duckhunt]

AMD needs to get better with power efficiency and think out of the box. Go AMD we need you to survive and prosper else intel will become too bloated and become an even bigger pig.

 

[InvalidError]

Intel can not legally prevent any company from entering the x86 chip market.

With the high complexity and vast array of licenses such a would-be competitor would need to secure before entering the market to avoid burial in legal expenses, entry has been effectively locked down for over a decade with most companies that used to make x86-compatible chips having effectively if not completely bailed out of the x86 business since.

Trying to enter the x86 market is too expensive and too risky. I doubt any sane company would bother when even the second largest x86 chip designer is only barely managing to stay alive despite Intel "holding back" to give AMD some time to catch up.

Most companies who own legacy x86 licenses stick to microcontrollers because seeking licenses for new instruction sets and putting more effort than that into x86 is not worth their trouble.