AMD has the rights to produce x86 compatible CPUs. If Apple were to design the chips but AMD manufactured them on contract, would that avoid IP/licensing issues with Intel?
Yes. I am finding it almost bemusing that people are dancing so delicately around the only rational possibility here: A semi-custom AMD-produced x86-64 CPU, very much like the Samsung-produced A-series ARM CPUs for their phones and tablets. I see zero reason that the next Axxxx chip cant be a rebranded Zen core with Vega GPU and custom Apple IP magic sprinkled in - https://www.amd.com/en-us/solutions/semi-custom
Just because Apple says they are done with Intel and are making their own chips, does not preclude the possibility that they are simply working with a different x86 vendor on a custom/semi-custom design.
I see zero way Apple gets off the x86 architecture in the next few years, simply due to the tremendous software ecosystem that has grown up around the platform since the switch from PowerPC. They would have to offer a dual path for years to get their larger software partners prepared.
That’s a lot of fuss for at best a lateral shift, and a step down in the all-important performance-per-watt metric (Zen and Vega are totally unproven here).
You may be underestimating the possible paths Apple has to a) transition software developers quickly with better tooling, and b) provide sufficiently performant JIT / compatibility layer by sprinkling a bit of x86 compatibility into future A-series chips, and you’re certainly underestimating the value in c) reducing complexity on the software-side.
Apple is already making their own GPU and CPU and throwing all their weight behind that, why would they hop onto the (brilliant but rather unreliable and on mobile totally unproven) AMD train?
That’s assuming Apple manly uses existng core designs from AMD etc and doesn’t significantly contribute improvements for their own systems, to gain advantages over the chips available to their competitors. But surely adding a hefty dose of their own secret sauce would be the only thing that would make such a move worthwhile?
What’s being suggested is not that Apple use AMD designs. It’s that Apple partner with AMD in order to gain licensing cover for their own largely or completely in-house engineered chips.
No. Without an architectural license Apple can't design chips without being sued. They could set up a partnership though, similar to Zhaoxin, a joint venture between VIA and the Shanghai Muni.
AMD does not manufacture anything, they've gone 100% fabless. Their former manufacturing arm had been spun off into https://www.globalfoundries.com, which also absorbed IBM's fab tech.
