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IIRC AMD's cross-licensing deals with Intel over certain key patents are null and void if AMD is bought, which puts a real damper on the main reason anyone woul

IIRC AMD's cross-licensing deals with Intel over certain key patents are null and void if AMD is bought, which puts a real damper on the main reason anyone would consider purchasing the company.

acdha 10y ago
I believe this is the agreement you're referring to and it looks like it applies even to a change in ownership of 50% of the company: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2488/000119312509236705/dex102.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2488/000119312509236...
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  Does Apple even need to own a majority ownership to control the company? Couldn't they just purchase 49.9% of the company and set up the board of directors in their favor? With that much stake getting the company to do what you want it to do wouldn't be that difficult it seems.
lightedman 10y ago
Please. I buy AMD then Intel loses the 64 licensing rights which AMD owns. That really sounds like a winning proposition for Apple, given that Intel's own 64-bit arches historically sucked.
- mschuster91 10y ago
  > That really sounds like a winning proposition for Apple, given that Intel's own 64-bit arches historically sucked. Yeah but for various reasons any usable amd64 CPU needs backwards compatibility with x86 - which, if Apple doesn't want to go the Fat Binary emulation approach again, requires that an Apple-bought AMD must achieve a licensing deal with Intel to maintain said compatibility. Then again, Apple these days doesn't give a ... about BC anymore anyway, so they might as well go down that track and use only amd64.
DannyBee 10y ago
You do realize that amd owns a lot of the x64 patents, not intel, right?
- msbarnett 10y ago
  Yes, I do realize that. Which ought to have been clear from the use of the term 'cross-licensing', frankly.
010a 10y ago
That's true, but Intel has as much to lose as AMD if that cross-licensing deal is terminated. So I'd imagine that Intel would want to re-negotiate it with the new party, which is obviously a possibility.

IIRC AMD's cross-licensing deals with Intel over certain key patents are null and void if AMD is bought, which puts a real damper on the main reason anyone would consider purchasing the company.

acdha 10y ago

I believe this is the agreement you're referring to and it looks like it applies even to a change in ownership of 50% of the company: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2488/000119312509236705/dex102.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2488/000119312509236...

bitmapbrother 10y ago
Does Apple even need to own a majority ownership to control the company? Couldn't they just purchase 49.9% of the company and set up the board of directors in their favor? With that much stake getting the company to do what you want it to do wouldn't be that difficult it seems.

lightedman 10y ago

Please. I buy AMD then Intel loses the 64 licensing rights which AMD owns. That really sounds like a winning proposition for Apple, given that Intel's own 64-bit arches historically sucked.

mschuster91 10y ago
> That really sounds like a winning proposition for Apple, given that Intel's own 64-bit arches historically sucked. Yeah but for various reasons any usable amd64 CPU needs backwards compatibility with x86 - which, if Apple doesn't want to go the Fat Binary emulation approach again, requires that an Apple-bought AMD must achieve a licensing deal with Intel to maintain said compatibility. Then again, Apple these days doesn't give a ... about BC anymore anyway, so they might as well go down that track and use only amd64.

DannyBee 10y ago

You do realize that amd owns a lot of the x64 patents, not intel, right?

msbarnett 10y ago
Yes, I do realize that. Which ought to have been clear from the use of the term 'cross-licensing', frankly.

010a 10y ago

That's true, but Intel has as much to lose as AMD if that cross-licensing deal is terminated. So I'd imagine that Intel would want to re-negotiate it with the new party, which is obviously a possibility.