Intel, Amd Reach Licensing Pact

Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp. have signed an agreement to share technology.

The cross-licensing agreement announced Friday follows a similar accord that expired Dec. 31 and comes one year after the companies settled all their lawsuits over AMD’s right to copy Intel chips. Intel and AMD did not disclose the technical or financial terms of the new agreement.

But the companies agreed previously that AMD would not use Intel microcode - a chip’s built-in software - beyond that on the 486 microprocessor. AMD would not be able to make copies of Intel’s popular Pentium processor.

AMD, however, has been working on a chip to rival the Pentium and last fall announced it would acquire Nexgen, which already makes a Pentiumclass processor.

Intel is the world’s biggest maker of microprocessors.