License to x86
Grose added his firm remained focused "on executing on our growth strategies including our planned integration with Chartered, following the successful closing of ATIC's acquisition of the company."
Of course, with the cross license issues dead and buried, Abu Dhabi owned ATIC can now integrate theoperations of the two businesses, giving them that much more flexibility in the legal structures they will use, now that Glofo is no longer an AMD subsidiary.
The agreement doesn't mean, however, that GlobalFoundries will effectively have an umbrella to dole out X86 licenses to its clients, as the specifics of the new cross license agreement limit the license to AMD products only.
It's important to remember that AMD actually filed its antitrust proceedings against Intel back in the mid 2000s, when the smaller firm was actually in an x86 leadership position. Intel was, at that time, a clear number two in terms of performance, so at the time the entire landscape was different.
Now, AMD's CPU products are a distant second, in terms of performance, to Intel's, so one could question how much the settlement and agreement will really matter now - except, of course, that it provides AMD with enough money to help keep it afloat and cover about a third of the firm's debts.
Still, it wouldn't surprise us in the least if companies like NVIDIA continued to harp on about Intel's unfair practices, particularly around platforms.
A spokesperson for NVIDIA already told HEXUS this morning that "this additional payment by Intel only supports our claims that Intel will do most anything rather than compete on the merits of their products."
