Advanced Micro Device's new manufacturing venture may come with some old baggage.
After AMD announced on Tuesday
that it would spin off its manufacturing assets to a new company
partially owned by the Abu Dhabi government, Intel was quick to warn
AMD about patent and cross-licensing concerns.
AMD will own part of the new manufacturing entity, for the time
being to be called The Foundry Company, while Advanced Technology
Investment Co. (ATIC) will own the rest (55.6 percent) and have equal
voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company. The total investment is
expected to come to approximately $8 billion.
Intel-AMD disputes are certainly not new. AMD sued Intel in 2005 alleging antitrust violations. But this time Intel has AMD in its sights.
At the moment, Intel is simply expressing concern about the deal, per the Patent Cross License Agreement between the two companies. The two chipmakers have cross-licensing agreements that go back to 1976.
"We don't know enough yet. We have a lot of questions about how this deal is structured," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.
AMD could not be reached for comment.
Source : http://news.cnet.com/
