Posted on Tuesday, December 29 2009 @ 18:43 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman
believes the FTC lawsuit against Intel is unlikely to push the chip giant to license the x86 instruction set to more companies:
Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman said that he did not believe that the courts would support forcing Intel to license contemporary x86 instruction set to more companies. The expectation is completely logical not only because Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are constantly extending the x86 technology with new capabilities, but also because even if Intel is forced to license its own piece of x86 instructions, AMD will be not and a potential new licensee will not be able to make microprocessors fully compatible with AMD’s chips. It should also be stressed that FTC demanded to liberalize x86 license terms so that the license became transferrable when its holders are acquired by third parties.
