Qualcomm buying AMD would be awful, they are a 100% closed vendor, and wont even supply spec sheets/chip details if you arn't a $1mil+ a year customer.

They completely ruined Atheros wifi chips for instance. Pre-buyout they had the best featureset, and even open source firmware. Now they have a massive closed firmware driverlike-blob and you can't even set your MAC address. Pathetic.

AMD can't be bought. The x86/x86_64 cross licensing agreement forbids the sale of AMD (or Intel) to a third party.

If this happened, AMD wouldn't be able to make x86 and Intel wouldn't be able to make x86_64 anymore. [1]

Also Intel is very very keen to have AMD continue existing and manufacturing x86 CPUs because if they don't, the antitrust boffins will come after Intel.

[1] www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/anton-shilov/amd-clarifies-cross-license-with-intel-change-of-control-terminates-agreement-for-both

> fighting Intel

At the close of the 19th century, the Jules Verne novels occasionally featured an 'arms race' for the biggest possible cannon.

Then in the 20th they just slapped smaller ordnance on tanks and planes. Mobile platforms ...

I understand, but there's still a whole lot of value Qualcomm could capture going after Intel's much more profitable businesses, like the server market. Going "up-market" as Clayton Christensen put it. If everything goes well with IoT and this acquisition, Qualcomm may still do that, but not expecting it to happen for another 10+ years now.