Intel Will Pay Rival Chipmaker AMD $1.25 Billion to Settle All Legal Disputes

[Nemesis 1]

That will depend on what the new business practice guidelines are...for example, they could very well make AMD' lower pricing more effective with OEMs.

Edit: On an up note for Intel, their tax rate drops from 26% to 20% on this news...

Say why don't you post that old thread were me and you debate what AMD was going to get in this settlement. I believe they got to much . But in our debate I said the Max they would get would be between 500 million and a billion as I recall.


I won't say what you said but ya missed the ship and landed on a dingy.

You say the new contract opens things up . Intel says business as usual.

I agree now AMD won't beable to go to HP and offer them a million free chips as they have in the past. But I really don't see were Intel will have to do anything differant than the past . You said AMD probably doesn't have to pay for every chip they produce , I can believe that. But not till I see it in righting . This was A hugh win for Intel and a small win for AMD. But now its time to move on .

Now to get NV for there businesss practices. This one will be the backbreaker.

 

[Nemesis 1]

That will depend on what the new business practice guidelines are...for example, they could very well make AMD' lower pricing more effective with OEMs.

Edit: On an up note for Intel, their tax rate drops from 26% to 20% on this news...

Say why don't you post that old thread were me and you debate what AMD was going to get in this settlement. I believe they got to much . But in our debate I said the Max they would get would be between 500 million and a billion as I recall.


I won't say what you said but ya missed the ship and landed on a dingy.

You say the new contract opens things up . Intel says business as usual.

I agree now AMD won't beable to go to HP and offer them a million free chips as they have in the past. But I really don't see were Intel will have to do anything differant than the past . You said AMD probably doesn't have to pay for every chip they produce , I can believe that. But not till I see it in righting . This was A hugh win for Intel and a small win for AMD. But now its time to move on .

 

[Cogman]

It is really good to see that AMD might be around for the next few years. The agreement was nothing but good for AMD. Sure, the money wasn't as much as it should have been, but the other stipulations (like dropping the law suits, AMD can use different fabs, ect) are extremely good news.

It will be interesting to see what AMD makes of its new found freedom and cash.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Not likely going to cover process technology, those are crown jewels which are usually transferred thru industrial espionage, mystery and intrigue. Mostly just thru espionage.

Reminds me of the good old days when companies like Collins Radio would throw fake RF PCBs out in the dumpster for the competition to spy on

 

[myocardia]

edit: since when am I an elite member?

Since last week. It seemed that ~50% of AT wanted you banned, and the other half wanted you to be an elite member. So, after a vote that turned out dead even, Derek decided that you'll be an elite member for one week, then take a 7 day vacation, then come back as an elite member, etc. So congratulations, for the next 48 hours or so.

Does that mean people on this forum will finally stop defending Intel at every turn?

This is a clear admission of guilt, if nothing else.

I wouldn't be so sure. I've seen people argue things that I would have bet good money that no one on Earth would argue over, and yet both the video and P&N forums are still going strong.

 

[Markfw]

Does that mean people on this forum will finally stop defending Intel at every turn?

This is a clear admission of guilt, if nothing else.

I think thats a little overstated. In this forum all I see is that Intel is king in performance, but I have seen no evidence that anyone here defends their practices, at least the illegal ones for sure, and rarely even the ones that are morally wrong.

 

[Idontcare]

edit: since when am I an elite member?

Congrats CTho! Well deserved and long over-due IMO.

 

[halley]

I think thats a little overstated. In this forum all I see is that Intel is king in performance, but I have seen no evidence that anyone here defends their practices, at least the illegal ones for sure, and rarely even the ones that are morally wrong.

Intel implicitly promised to stop paying Dell, HP... but consumers should be aware of being influenced by biased reviews from several websites, which were managed directly or indirectly by Intel.
If it was illegally creative enough in the past by throwing money at Dell to push AMD out of Dell computers, Intel will turn to other tactics to shape public buying, considering the growing influence of Internet.

 

[OCGuy]

Does that mean people on this forum will finally stop defending Intel at every turn?

This is a clear admission of guilt, if nothing else.

Yes, Anand is registering AMDzoneJr.com as we speak.





No.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Intel implicitly promised to stop paying Dell, HP... but consumers should be aware of being influenced by biased reviews from several websites, which were managed directly or indirectly by Intel.
If it was illegally creative enough in the past by throwing money at Dell to push AMD out of Dell computers, Intel will turn to other tactics to shape public buying, considering the growing influence of Internet.

Intel knew they were going to loose the case. AMD has enough stuff to support their case.

Intel is guilty, simple as that. It's all very clear now.

 

[Idontcare]

Intel knew they were going to loose the case. AMD has enough stuff to support their case.

Intel is guilty, simple as that. It's all very clear now.

While I will agree with any statements that Intel more than likely lost the case in the court of public opinion, I am definitely not inclined to assume they would have lost in a court of law.

This wouldn't be the first time the innocent have "plead out" to a reduced crime in exchange for being guaranteed a lighter sentence than what they stood to receive had they been falsely convicted.

If Intel internally found justification and $6B to pad DELL with to ensure they could sell boatloads of chips then I am quite sure they found justification for ponying up another $1.25B to continue doing so. Seriously the magnitude of the damages are just far to small, by an order of magnitude, for this to really be useful as an indication of just how guilty the guilty party was.

But I agree that in the court of public opinion they lost this round. But the good thing for Intel is that the court of public opinion is just as fickle as ever. We'll bitch and moan about evil Intel and then our very next computer will be a DELL laptop with an Intel cpu because it's $25 cheaper or has free shipping, etc.

So bottom line is I think Intel knew exactly what they are doing, everything is a cold hard calculated risk to maximize their ability to generate profits going forward, and I am not about to reverse engineer their decisions with an assumption of superior mental faculty on my behalf.

 

[jvroig]

We'll bitch and moan about evil Intel and then our very next computer will be a DELL laptop with an Intel cpu because it's $25 cheaper or has free shipping, etc.

This made me laugh, because it's true. I'd like an AMD powered laptop myself, but when 95% of the laptops for sale are Intel, and the AMD ones are just uncompetitive, I have no reasonable choice. I have three laptops right now, and all of them are Intel. My desktop, however, is AMD, since desktop parts are a different matter and sourcing AMD desktop parts are easier even here. (I'm not sure about how easy it is to source AMD laptops there in the US though)

am definitely not inclined to assume they would have lost in a court of law.

Despite losing in the EU and having other governments/countries gunning for them (so I heard)? I assumed they wanted AMD to be their friend again so as to weaken most of those cases against them.

 

[Keysplayr]

Or, Intel felt AMD in danger of bankruptcy. You could look at this as a bailout to, since every other angle is being microscoped. In the end, everyone gains. AMD gets 1.25B and still will be in monumental debt, although danger of bankruptcy is severly reduced if not abolished. And Intel will not have to break up their company due to being a monopoly.
I don't know the exact laws, but I'm sure somebody could tell me how far off I am.

 

[Idontcare]

Despite losing in the EU and having other governments/countries gunning for them (so I heard)? I assumed they wanted AMD to be their friend again so as to weaken most of those cases against them.

To my understanding all those other "cases" are actually fines levied by committees, not a single one of them has involved an actual court of law yet in which Intel gets representation and a third party makes a ruling.

I once got a speeding ticket while on a vacation in which I was in an entirely different state (USA), almost 1000miles away from my home. Now the thing that burned me about the ticket was it was a completely fabricated ticket by the police officer...he said I was going some crazy speed that I simply never drive at any time in my life let alone when I am out for a vacation trip in which I certainly have no pressure to get anywhere fast at all.

So I had a choice, contest the ticket in a court of law or pay the ticket. Now to contest the ticket would require me to travel back to the state in question once I had been assigned a court-date. I ran the numbers and realized even if I won the court case and the speeding ticket was rescinded I would still spend nearly 5x (500%!) more than the ticket itself just on the gas plus hotel, etc, necessary for me to travel to the court house.

So I paid the ticket simply because it was the cheapest option available to me. But I know I absolutely was not guilty of the alleged crime, and the ticket was not levied against me by a judge or jury that got to see any evidence, etc. My paying the ticket had nothing to do with guilt, it was a simple calculation of expenses.

So far we haven't seen Intel do anything but run the numbers and try and lose as little money in the process of getting thru life. We can assume guilt on their part because of these actions, but their actions of settling alone aren't really proof of anything in my opinion.

 

[lopri]

I think thats a little overstated. In this forum all I see is that Intel is king in performance, but I have seen no evidence that anyone here defends their practices, at least the illegal ones for sure, and rarely even the ones that are morally wrong.

Oh come on, mark, you've seen it all. I've even seen some lunatics who equated pro-Intel to pro-America in the past.

I've read the agreement between AMD and Intel, and it naturally isn't anything to do with the public interest. I personally could care less whether AMD or Intel goes belly up - something else will take it over or fill that void anyway. (This is a capitalist society, right?) The agreement between Intel and AMD is nothing but a duopoly agreement, and the federal government should keep investigating, including this 'deal' between AMD and Intel.

I also find it troubling that while there were such astronomical amount of fines imposed yet no one is being held responsible. People go to jail for a lot less. Admittedly those fines were from foreign jurisdictions, so when/if the trials ends in the U.S. court and the jury find any wrongdoing of individuals, they shouldn't be able to hide behind a corporate logo.

Ideally we could take the opportunity so that we could fix this whole X86 nonsense as well as patents in tech industry in general. Folks who advocate free-market often don't realize that patents are but government-sanctioned exclusivity rights that prevent everyone else from accessing to the ideas. It is necessary to reward a genuinely innovative ideas, but if you believe in capitalism - they will find a way to the public through the market. Besides which, there isn't anything noble about X86 instruction sets any more, and even die-hard Intel supporters may recognize the way they're being used today has little to do with creativity or some such. There is this insightful section in the AMD-Intel agreement which drew attentions of some:

Intel shall not include any Artificial Performance Impairment in any Intel product or require any Third Party to include an Artificial Performance Impairment in the Third Party’s product. As used in this Section 2.3, “ Artificial Performance Impairment ” means an affirmative engineering or design action by Intel (but not a failure to act) that (i) degrades the performance or operation of a Specified AMD product, (ii) is not a consequence of an Intel Product Benefit and (iii) is made intentionally to degrade the performance or operation of a Specified AMD Product.

I know I'm dreaming, but as a consumer, I'd like as many choices buying a computer as buying a TV, and as much freedom building a computer as building a kitchen. Computers are no longer a luxury, but a commodity. Intel wants its products to be commodity and luxury at the same time (i.e. keep its monopoly status), and no, it can't have both ways.