AMD: company split does not violate Intel patents

One day after Intel voiced concerns over patent violations, AMD has made an announcement on Thursday hoping to put them to rest. AMD previously said it will split its operations and enter into a joint manufacturing venture, prompting the worries from Intel. Intel said it would review its processor licensing agreement with AMD, though AMD maintains there is no need, as the new deal will not violate any agreements between the two. The two chipmakers currently have a deal in place that has AMD pay Intel royalties in exchange for use of its x86 chip instruction set.

“We are completely confident the structure of this transaction takes into account our cross-license agreements,” AMD spokesman Phil Hughes wrote in an e-mail.

Intel wants AMD to publish a full version of the licensing agreement, though AMD refuses, saying it is a business transaction and will not settle any disputes in the public domain. “This is something that the lawyers have to work out,” Hughes said.

At least one analyst believes the situation will give Intel an argument to help it to convince AMD to drop its antitrust lawsuit.

On Tuesday, AMD said it would split the company in two, with one unit continuing to develop, design and market CPU and graphics chips, while another will focus on the manufacturing operations. Abu Dhabi government-backed Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), will own half of the new company.

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