Intel Warned of Termination AMD’s Patent License

April 5, 2009

On March 16, 2009, Intel warned AMD of termination its license on the x86 technology to Global Foundries. Intel believes that Global Foundries is not a subsidiary of AMD under the terms of Intel’s 2001 patent cross-license agreement with AMD and is therefore not licensed to use that technology.

In 2001, Intel and AMD signed a license agreement for Intel’s x86 technology license. AMD believes its subsidiary Global Foundries is entitled to use the x86 technology. Global Foundries was founded by AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC). ATIC is a state-owned venture capital company in the Middle East and belongs to the Abu Dhabi investment bureau.

However, Intel believes that Global Foundries is not an AMD subsidiary under the terms of the cross-license agreement and is therefore not licensed to use the technology. The AMD and ATIC agreement is against the trade secret of the patent licensing.

According to a statement from AMD: “Intel’s action aims to draw people’s attention away from the on-going anti-monopoly investigation of itself. If a patent dispute is filed, we can not only prove Intel’s mistake, but we can also prove that Intel’s requirement hinders our business cooperation efforts.”