AMD Settlement Sparks Volume Surge

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quote) shares surged Thursday on a spike in volume after the chipmaker said it has ended all outstanding legal disputes with rival Intel (INTC Quote), including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes.

Under terms of the agreement, AMD and Intel obtain patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement, Intel and AMD will give up any claims of breach from the previous license agreement, and Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion. Intel said it has also agreed to abide by a set of business practice provisions.

AMD said it will drop all pending litigation, including the case in U.S. District Court in Delaware and two cases pending in Japan, as well as all of its regulatory complaints worldwide.

AMD's dispute with Intel revolved around the former's complaints over Intel's dominance and pricing, which other regulators have targeted. Earlier this month, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed antitrust charges against Intel, accusing it of coercing PC makers through kickbacks to use its chips and not components from rivals like AMD.

Shares of AMD were jumping by $1.18, or 22.2%, to $6.53. Earlier in the session, the stock touched a new 52-week high of $6.73. More than 60 million shares changed hands by 10:15 a.m. EST Thursday, compared to the stock's three-month average daily volume of 28.8 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

AMD has a 418 million-share float with a short interest float of 7.6% as of Oct. 12, according to Yahoo! Finance. Insiders hold 24.4% of the company's shares, with another 35.7% owned by institutions.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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