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The history is actually pretty simple. Originally it was because the US government requires a second source for any components and so Intel had to license it t
by RuggedPineapple 6y ago
The history is actually pretty simple.
Originally it was because the US government requires a second source for any components and so Intel had to license it to somebody to supply the US government.
Then later AMD's 64 bit instructions became the standard, so Intel needed the license for the 64 bit extensions and AMD needed the x86 base and so they just decided to cross-license and call it good.
- gonzo 6y agoYou seem to have not mentioned the lawsuit and clean room effort.
- RuggedPineapple 6y agoWhich lawsuit? The mid-late 2000's one after all this history? Or the 1991 one that was about intel seeking ways to squeeze out AMD from it's license? The first one isn't really relevant to this and the second one could have been more direct but AMD having a license and then getting another later as part of the deal on x86-64 does allude to behind the scenes shenanigans.