http://www.pcworld.com/article/3106852/amd-turns-back-to-x86-for-server-reboot-as-it-downgrades-arm.html
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The terms of the x86 licensing between Intel and AMD are cloaked in secrecy and I certainly know only what I have read in the press over the years. But, over those years there have been all sorts of speculation around whether what AMD attempts is compatible with the license. Splitting Global Foundry and then trying to have x86 potentially made elsewhere. Various SOC initiatives involving third parties. Etc. Everytime AMD attempts to bring in a large partner or shop-out the x86 CPU architecture it comes up again.
So, this part of the article sounds as if it ought to keep the legal folks working, and also involve the US Dept of State.
"Licensing the Zen processor designs will also be a source a revenue for AMD, Su said. The Zen processor design and system-on-chip technology has been licensed by AMD to a company called THATIC (Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co.), a partnership between AMD and a consortium of public and private Chinese companies."
Yes, yes. I know they license the instruction set and access to the ecosystem, and that they develop their own microarchitecture to execute those. But, many of the features are common to Intel and AMD and are the result of obvious collaboration at the behest of large customers such as Microsoft. 64-bit, virtualization basics, a whole raft of behaviors.