Micron Chips and AMD-China

So, at the same time China decides Micron violates a patent held by a Taiwanese company, it bans the sale of Micron chips.  Then, it starts production of AMD-x86 chips in China, making Intel, which has devoted billions of dollars to Chinese manufacturing, look over its shoulder.

Intel always took the chance that the gains made by Chinese investment would give them a dominate position in the markets there.  That would pay off handsomely.  Only they are in the same boat that a lot of other companies are in, and that boat is being hijacked on the high seas.  China still makes a lot of Intel chips as a percentage of their market production, but now they have a competitor in China that can beat them at domestic production.  That is the kind of justice a business gets in China. They are “licensing” the production from AMD, but it won’t be long before they have stolen that technology and produce their own chips without a license from anyone.  AMD will be out in the cold with Intel then.  There is no patent protection in China and those licenses won’t be worth the paper they are printed on.

So, AMD Board members, will the short-term profits over the next few years make up for the long-term loss of market position in the world?  If past is prologue, no.  Plenty of companies take this risk without understanding what it really is.  They see the money pouring in and think how wonderful life is when China is their customer.  Take a longer term view of the company - like China does.