Patent Law

Fueled

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) competes in a CPU duopoly against Intel, holding a 20% market share short-straw to Intel's 80%. The struggle has been fierce, and now moves into a new phase. Yesterday, AMD announced a strategy, financially fueled by Abu Dhabi, that has Intel fuming over patents.

AMD announced that is was spinning off its manufacturing plants, aka fabrication foundries ("fabs"), into a separate company, temporarily, and unimaginatively, called Foundry Company, a $5.7 billion joint venture with Abu Dhabi state-owned venture capital firm, Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC). More money will be poured into AMD from another Abu Dhabi government company.

Financially, AMD had run out of juice. The deal represents recycling of Oil Kingdom money, sucked from oil-ravenous suckers, quaintly called "the industrialized nations," in return for spewing black gold their way. Now more than ever, it's chic to be a sheik.

The reinvigorated AMD will focus on new designs, and patents. Reportedly, the new deal will be welcomed by IBM, which has worked with AMD and other chip makers, in an alliance to improve chips for its members. Conversely, Intel is doing a John McCain impersonation, angrily blathering that it "has serious questions about this transaction as it relates to the [cross-]license [it has with AMD,] and will vigorously protect Intel's intellectual property rights." AMD pays royalties to Intel under the cross-license. Intel has asked AMD to make the recent restructuring agreement public. So far, AMD has demurred.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).