Fighting Words

As Abu Dhabi's relationship with the microchip maker AMD deepens, so too do accusations of foul play. AMD has long accused Intel of monopolistic practices, saying the company abuses its dominant market position; the practices are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit brought by AMD against Intel.

Now, Intel has come out publicly saying the new AMD-Abu Dhabi deal violates a patent licensing agreement between the two companies. But for some real fighting words, the prize has to go to AMD's chief marketing officer, Nigel Dessau. In a blog post last week titled "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," he goes straight for Intel's throat:

Gee Nigel, why not tell us how you really think? The whole post is worth reading as an insight into how AMD, the perpetual number-two player in the market, sees the role of competition in the industry. Among other things, he credits competition from companies like AMD and ARM for pushing successful Intel products like the Atom netbook chip and the new generation

.

"I believe in our fight to bring balance back to the market," Mr Dessau says at the end of his post. It is now a fight the UAE has a serious interest in: Mubadala owns almost twenty per cent of AMD, and ATIC, a government-owned investment company, owns more than 55 per cent of

, the AMD spinoff at the heart of Intel's accusations.