AMD and Intel to Settle Civil Suit
Posted 09/28/09 at 09:28:36 AM by Paul Lilly
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After more than four years of litigation, it looks like AMD and Intel are likely to reach a settlement before the civil case between the chip makers comes to court in 2010.
The original filing dates back to June 2005, during which time AMD sued Intel in a Delaware district court alleging all kinds of anti-competitive business practices and other tomfoolery. If found guilty, Intel could potentially be fined around $9 billion, TGDaily reports. To put that into perspective, building two fabs would only cost half as much.
Intel could also be fined much less, and the longer this drags on, the more resources both sides have to throw at lawyers rather than concentrating on building chips. For this reason, TGDaily reports sources close to both companies say the case will never make it to trial as the two sides are likely to settle. The amount and terms of the potential settlement aren't known, and probably never will be, but either way, you can score this as a win for AMD.
Image Credit: blogs.taragana.com
I guess a lot of people here
Submitted by Wildebeast on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 10:48am
I guess a lot of people here would say I qualify as an AMD/ATI fanboy...
If AMD makes a CPU of comparable Wattage, and the price/perfomance ratio is also comparable to Intel ---I go with AMD, because I'd rather not just let either company use the "whatever we feel like charging, is the reasonable market price," system.
It looks to me like the upcoming release of AMD procs will finally be down to the 90W range.
I'm not shopping for a $400+ cpu, maybe that's why my view differs so much from the typical around here...
Also ---If Intel was giving "sweet-heart" deals, at/below manfacture cost, to OEMs for exclusificity ---that's My definition of anti-competitive... especially if the OEMs ended up using more Intel motherboards and chipsets, as a result.
I also have a major history of getting really pissed off at the OEMs, over the fact that their "cheaper" PCs tend to be loaded with crappy chipsets (and their issues), some "fluff," & otherwise Absolute Minimum specs... If you spend $1000 on a oem PC, you can't know if you're getting "an $800 machine" with a good chipset & decent specs, or the cut-rate version of the $1500 machine --loaded with sub-par accessories/peripherals to make it look like less of a POS. ----but that's a separate issue, as long as Intel isn't pulling the anti-competitive crap.
Corporate Lawyers
Submitted by LVmonkey on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:10am
Corporate Lawyers tend to be paid every month despite if they are doing something or not. So I would assume the Lawyers are not making anything more than usual. Intel have proven to be pretty ...douchbaggy... lately. I mean, google em up sometime. Not very good PR.
The real question this stuff all raises is if that their business ethics are something you should take into account for your next purchase/build. And that is really more telling of your own morals than that of intel or AMD. I'm curious to see if it sways the general public but so far I as i can tell it hasn't.
Agreed
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:07am
Despite what feelings any of us have towards either company, this is just another situation where lawyers get rich off this crap. I still like what Shakespeare said.......
To me the processor really
Submitted by DBsantos77 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:54am
To me the processor really isn't important as the price difference between the 2.
Aside from that, I hope this settlement will make both manufacturers concentrate on better products.
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:22am
This is a forum to express OPINIONS related to the articles posted. If you don't like my OPINION, too bad. AMD fell behind in the CPU market a while back, and have yet to make ANYTHING on par with Intel's best. That alone justifies my statement. If you don't think so, OH WELL, this IS still a free country(as of now), and I AM entitled to my opinion. If you want to say Intel sucks, go for it. That would be YOUR opinion.
Have a nice day!
Submitted by D3lt4 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:24am
Being obnoxious is one thing.
Having an uneducated opinion is one thing.
Having an educated opinion and acting slightly more mature than an 8 year old brat is another.
P.S. I like Intel, I like AMD, I LOVE Competition.
Submitted by snapple00 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:05am
I don't know the whole story, maybe Intel did cock block AMD way back then.
But what is stopping them now? It seems like these days the under acheivers go after the successful companies through lawsuits.
I would be perfectly happy to buy an AMD part if it was up to snuff. It just seems like Intel comes out with something significantly faster every time.
Not to mention AMD seems to love turning some cores off and calling it a new processor.
So what is stopping AMD right this second from designing and testing a high quality kick ass part that beats Intel? A lawsuit from the past? Give me a break.
as long as AMD usses the
Submitted by nekollx on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:17am
as long as AMD usses the x86 microarchitecture, yes a lawsuit from the past can block them.
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Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:44am
You bet!
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:04am
Since they can't make better CPU's than Intel, they decided to sue them over, what exactly? That Intel dominates the market? Well, AMD, if you could do a better job at making CPU's than Intel, then maybe you would do better in the PC market.....right? For that reason, I am an Intel fan, and won't buy AMD products(ATI cards either). I'll stick with Intel and nVidia, thank you very much!
Submitted by MeTo on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:23am
AMD did make a better chip (thoroughbred & sledgehammer) That is when Intel started doing what the EU sued them for. Remember when you could "NOT" buy a dell with a AMD CPU i do.
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:01am
My company has been using Dell for our customers for over a decade now, so yes, I DO remember when Dell's were AMD only. If Intel did what they did to boost THEIR sales, why didn't AMD shoot back with a BETTER deal? Again, it's called FREE ENTERPRISE. You do what you have to to make more money than your competitors. AMD should be able to do the same thing, and offer the same deals to companies like Dell and HP to take market shares from Intel. But because they don't make as good of a product, those companies LIKED the offer from Intel simply because they got both a great deal, and a better product!
To me, this sounds like AMD being a poor sport about the whole situation. WAH WAH WAH! Hey, AMD, you want some cheese with that WHINE!
Submitted by MeTo on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 9:52am
It's not free enterprise when you put in stipulations like Intel did. I will be glad when Intel signs the check.
What AMD's Up Against
Submitted by One4yu2c on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:21am
It's not as simple as who makes a better processor. See here:
EU Posts Sordid Details in Intel Antitrust Case
-Paul Lilly
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:30am
That's all good and well, but I still stand behind my assessment of AMD. Intel makes a superior product, and have made tons of money BECAUSE of their superior products, and offer rebates to those companies who will use their products in their systems. If AMD can't follow suit, simply because of what they offer as CPU's, well, that's FREE ENTERPRISE, people! If someone does something better than you, then you need to step up and make your products better then them. If you can't and that company dominates and can offer rebates and such to companies that use their products, then the more power to them!
I guess it's wrong for Car Companies to offer rebates to those who'll buy their cars, eh? Simply to push more sales, huh? Man, that's terrible! What a bad thing to do!
Give me a break, people!
Submitted by nekollx on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:15am
AMD can't make a better product cause Intel sued them some time ago to ham string inovations.
Submitted by sinan on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:03am
There are so many holes in your logic I was really debating whether to bother posting anything at all.
Regardless of who makes the better product if a company uses illegal
methods like intel did to gain an unfair advantage then there is a
problem. OEMs did not use intel chips because they were better than
AMD's (which is not the point here) but because Intel paid them not to
use AMD chips. You don't see a problem with that?In a world with no laws to regulate how business should be conducted
a company with the resources that Intel has can drive a smaller company
like AMD out of business by shady practices like this. Even if AMD
manufactured the best CPU on the planet, Intel can still put them out
of business if they offered OEMs something like $100 (arbitraty number)
for every Intel CPU they order instead on an AMD one.And guess what, if AMD goes out of business Intel has virtually no
competition in the CPU market. They can sit on their laurels, start
producing mediocre chips again and charge whatever they want for them
because the consumer has no choice in the matter. Which is a great
scenario for Intel, but a really really bad one for all consumers.Even
Intel fanboys.
Submitted by Toxin on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:12am
I'm not going to argue with you, but I would like if you kept your blatant bias to yourself. It's your own choice if you like Intel or AMD, but please, there is no need to go around blatantly professing your love for Intel and bashing AMD. Give me one reason why AMD sucks, and if I cannot refute the point, I will concede that you are correct and will remove this comment.
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