Intel wants us dead, says AMD

Although Intel says that its recent threat to pull AMD’s rights and licenses relates purely to a desire to protect its intellectual property, AMD claims that there is a much more nefarious purpose to the threat; Intel really wants to get AMD out of the picture altogether.

Speaking to Cnet AMD’s general counsel, Harry Wolin, claimed that "In their [Intel’s] perfect world, we wouldn't exist. If they had to deal with the government every now and then, that's fine, and they're still extracting monopoly profits from the industry."

Wolin also said that "I don't agree with the premise that they have to have us and they think they have to have us,” referring to Intel’s need for a third-party, licensed x86 CPU manufacturer, adding that “I think they would absolutely like us dead."

Last week, AMD issued a statement saying that “Intel’s action is an attempt to distract the world from the global antitrust scrutiny it faces.” The company also added that “should this matter proceed to litigation, we will prove that Intel fabricated this claim to interfere with our commercial relationships and thus has violated the cross-license.”

However, Intel still insists that the threat to pull AMD’s licenses directly relates to the creation of Global Foundries, which Intel says it doesn’t recognise as a subsidiary under the terms of its patent cross-license agreement with AMD. Speaking to Cnet, Intel’s Chuck Mulloy said "It's nice of them to try to speak for us. AMD has been a competitor for almost 40 years in one form or another.” He also stated that “This is not about AMD going away. This is about our rights and AMD's rights under the patent cross-license agreement."

Do you think Intel wants to kill off AMD completely, or is it just trying to protect its intellectual property? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.