Can The European Commission Prevent Intel From Destroying AMD?

The European Commission might have handled semiconductor giant Intel a massive fine of nearly one billion pound sterling but it is likely to be a small consolation for AMD, Intel's only surviving rival.

The battered x86 chip manufacturer has long managed to live and breathe alongside its illustrious competitor and the Opteron/Athlon 64 era has allowed it to thrive just a little bit.

Intel's shares have hardly blipped despite the fine and Wall Street recorded a rather dull day with Intel's share price closing down by half a percent while AMD's went up by a similar proportion.

Intel's market capitalisation is $85 billion, that of AMD $3 billion and to put things in perspective, Intel spends more than $5 billion on research and development alone.

This shows without doubt the clout of a company which produced a gross profit of $20.8 billion last year and hold assets of more than $50 billion in 2008.

In comparison, AMD share price dropped by almost 90 percent over the last 3 years (Intel went down 27 percent) and the company had to split up, taking in more debt in order to survive.