By Desire Athow
It looks more and more likely that Intel’s once-formidable archrival, AMD, could receive some significant capital from a little known Chinese conglomerate called Loongson Technology.
VRWorld reports that key AMD staff have visited China over the last few weeks and that Loongson will use some of its 120 billion Yuan (about £12.6 billion, $19.2 billion, AU$25 billion) to invest in AMD stopping short of an outright acquisition.
That move would likely send Intel and US regulatory bodies berserk because of the technological implications. AMD is the only company outside Intel to have legal access to the x86 architecture.
As such, it is the only processor maker that can design traditional Windows-compatible CPUs or APUs. However, a takeover of AMD is likely to cause that long-standing agreement to be terminated by Intel.
Loongson shares common roots with Lenovo with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Computing Technology being their shared founders. The former also counts BLX IC Design Corp as the third founder.
Chinese companies like Lenovo have already acquired some of the biggest technology names in the US with the ownership of IBM (x86), Palm and Motorola changing hands in the last decade.
Loongson used MIPS technology to launch its eponymous processor range …read more
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