Intel opens Pentium II to competition

In an obvious nod to the antitrust investigation against it, Intel has licensed the Pentium II to a first, as-yet unnamed third party, marking anabrupt turn-around in its policies. Previously, third parties were lockedout of the Pentium II motherboard chipset design because Intel was tryingto protect its intellectual property rights and prevent cloning. Thelicensing of this technology opens the floodgates for others to use thechipset, as was the case with the Pentium and Pentium MMX chipsets.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been trying to determine whetherIntel's policy was an illegal abuse of its monopoly in microprocessors.

"We have concluded a license with a third-party company that will make chips," said Intel executive vice president Paul Otellini. "We will licenseto [other] companies [as well]