back to article Intel settles with AMD for $1.25bn

If you were looking forward to a long and protracted antitrust battle between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, you're out of luck. The two companies have buried the hatchet and settled all outstanding intellectual property and antitrust lawsuits. Under the settlement between the rival chip companies, Intel and AMD have signed …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Antitrust investigations

    I would have thought, that if company X makes antitrust complaints against company Y, and then comes to some sort of "agreement" with company Y and tries to "withdraw" the complaints, then you have to investigate the original complaints even more thoroughly because it looks rather suspiciously like company X has just joined company Y's conspiracy to defraud the consumer, doesn't it?

  2. Rob Beard
    Stop

    Roll on 2014

    So, roll on 2014 when it all starts up again.

    Still the cash injection has to be a good thing for AMD at the moment.

    Rob

  3. Rob Dobs
    Big Brother

    Agreed

    They do still press charges in cases of battered spouses in the US. If the police get called and it looks like violence happened, they are hauling away either the husband or wife.

    If anyone files criminal charges against an individual, the DA or appropriate authority still decides whether or not to continue to press charges. In some cases without the original complainant as a witness there is no way to get a conviction. In other cases where a deposition is already taken, or if there is just evidence of the crime, they will and often do still press charges.

    I don't think AMD a battered wife, who needs to be protected by the state from itself, but I do agree with the above comments, Intel should be held to task for their bad behavior whether or not they have bought off the victim.

    If a mob boss killed your father, and offered you x millions of dollars to drop charges, should the state also drop its case? No of course not, and I don't see why they should here either.

    But hey come on what world do think this? One where businesses and governments are held to the same standards of the people... we all know that's not the case.

  4. Ejl
    Happy

    Ha ha

    I'm still only ever going to buy AMD chips, on principle, though.

    (AMD & Intel chips are roughly equivalent in terms of value for money -- for a few months it may be Intel that has the advantage, then it goes back to AMD, and so on and so forth, so it's no big sacrifice).

  5. Trevor Pott o_O Gold badge
    FAIL

    Well this is all very disappointing

    A scorpion was wandering along the bank of the river, wondering how to get to the other side. Suddenly he saw a fox. He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river.

    The fox said, "No. If I do that, you'll sting me and I'll drown."

    The scorpion assured him, "If I did that, we'd both drown."

    So the fox thought about it and finally agreed. So the scorpion climbed up on his back and the fox began to swim. But halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him.

    As the poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, "Why did you do that? Now you'll drown too."

    "I couldn't help it," said the scorpion. "It's my nature."

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never Intel Inside

    @EJl: Agreed, I only bought AMD-powered PCs, (until I had no choice when switching to Mac-intel) because there's no difference except that AMD saves you money.

    Intel has been sucking the oxygen out of the economy, just as Microsoft has...you think there's no effect when a company piles up billions of dollars of profit and cash-on-hand, while stifling innovation and creativity...?

    Hope to see AMD's technology gain a fair market share now, offering good value...

    I was surprised that AMD settled for less than the EU fine. I would've hammered Intel to get at least $1.5B.

    (Any relation to Intel chief counsel moving on to Apple earlier?? "Nothing to defend here any longer.")

  7. Ian Yates

    "That's better!"

    "Now go outside and play nice"

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hell will freeze over...

    ...and pigs will fly long before any Intel product is purchase by this company.

  9. Smitty Werben Jueger Man Jenson
    Unhappy

    Well this is certainly a blue ball moment...

    Now we will never know if Intel was giving discounts to OEMs for not using AMD chips.

    Unless of course Intel begins or continues the practice after this agreement...

  10. g e

    The cheapest solution

    So, presumably Intel could see a 3bn fine coming through successful litigation and chose the far cheaper route of a settlement.

  11. Wallyb132
    Go

    This is a first...

    This to me reads as a sign of fear on intel's part. intel hasnt feared anything in the past, the EU / Japan / South Korea antitrust complains didnt seem to phase them, AMD's civil litigation was an expected cost of doing business and so on.

    In those scenarios the only at stake was some money, possibly some restrictions on marketing practices, and maybe a dent or 2 in their pride, nothing more. in their own view, their armor was thick enough it could with stand a few chinks here and there, battle scars that make for good war stories to tell their grandchildren.

    Then came Andrew Cuomo and the state of New York, followed closely behind by the FTC, with wispers of the DOJ riding in behind them, all waving antitrust antitrust complaints, and all having the power to do some real damage to intel. looking at that battlefield, and the possible consequences of losing any or all of the upcoming US government cases, intel actually showed signs of fear and waved the white flag, hoping that settle the case with AMD and making an agreement about its future marketing practices will be enough to stave off the coming onslaught of US.gov cases.

    probably a wise move on intel's part, with a heavily democrat controlled US government in place at the moment, intel faces the very real possibility of being broken up by the courts. they would have faced the same fate as Microsoft in its antitrust case, however this time its to early in the election cycle, there wouldn't be a change of office, no republican president to come in and save their ass, like Bush did for Microsoft...

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like