Advanced Micro Devices Inc has seen such a hole in its business following Intel Corp’s decision to deny it masks to the 80386 under their second-source agreement for the iAPX-86 microprocessor family that the company is considering reverse engineering the chip if it fails to be awarded the masks in the complex legal battle with Intel over the part. According to Electronic News, Advanced Micro has been assembling circuit architects and designers in Austin over the past 12 months to work on a three or four year effort to design a high-end 32-bit microprocessor; the company is refusing to make any comment on the 80386 until the lawsuit is settled – that is expected to be late this year or early next, but if Advanced Micro does come out with its own version of the part, Intel is likely to launch another lawsuit alleging microcode copyright infringement. The way that AMD and Harris have played havoc in the 80286 market, coming out with ever faster versions of the high-end 16-bit part against Intel’s wishes, makes it clear that Intel has a lot at stake in the litigation with AMD.
