Intel Threatens AMD Licenses After GlobalFoundries Spin-Off

Ah, this goes to show that NVIDIA isn't the only company that Intel has decided to play the "playground bully" with. The issue centers around AMD's spin-off of its manufacturing arm as GlobalFoundries, which was announced last October and completed on March 4th.

Intel says GlobalFoundries is not a subsidiary under the terms of their 2001 cross-licensing agreement with AMD, and therefore not licensed under the patent agreement.

AMD said the following in a Form 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (the “Company”) has received correspondence from Intel Corporation (“Intel”) related to the 2001 Patent Cross License Agreement between the Company and Intel (the “Cross License”). In this correspondence, Intel (i) alleges that the Company has committed a material breach of the Cross License through the creation of the Company’s GLOBALFOUNDRIES joint venture and (ii) purports to terminate the Company’s rights and licenses under the Cross License in 60 days if the alleged breach has not been corrected.

Here's what Intel said in a press release (remember that they consider GlobalFoundries a separate company, not a subsidiary of AMD):

"Intellectual property is a cornerstone of Intel's technology leadership and for more than 30 years, the company has believed in the strategic importance of licensing intellectual property in exchange for fair value. However AMD cannot unilaterally extend Intel's licensing rights to a third party without Intel's consent," said Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Intel. We have attempted to address our concerns with AMD without success since October. We are willing to find a resolution but at the same time we have an obligation to our stockholders to protect the billions of dollars we've invested in intellectual property."

At the same time, AMD said in a statement that this is all about distracting people from future antitrust action against Intel:

"Intel’s action is an attempt to distract the world from the global antitrust scrutiny it faces. 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."

NVIDIA and AMD can't possibly be best buds, since their GPUs compete, but perhaps they need to gang up on Microsoft.

This could get ugly ...