Re:AMD and Intel have a cross-licensing agreement. (Score 1)

I think that Intel keeps AMD around so that it doesn't have any of the monopoly problems that Microsoft has had.

Also, because they have the cross-licensing agreement, Intel can spend more of it's R&D dollars towards other areas in which they are heavily competing against another company and let AMD develop the x86 platform. AMD holds most of the PC enthusiast's loyalty so Intel not developing the top of the line first won't ruin or really even hurt Intel's market share.

This shows not how AMD is gaining momentum, but that AMD and Intel are extremely close to each other and the x86-64 extentions are not going to make any difference in the long run.