I place this question here because I don't know where to put it.

Let's say I designed and implemented a CPU compatible with Intel's Pentium IV. Can I massively produce and sell it without licensing from Intel?

Here, there're two levels of compability:

(1) hardware compatible, meaning I can remove the Intel CPU and plug my own CPU into the same socket and run the same applications on it.

(2) instruction set compatible, meaning I can still run the s/w, but the pins of the CPU chip (and/or other hardware features) may not be exactly the same.

Do all x86 manufacturers pay royalties to Intel?

-g

As far as I know...yes and yes.

Intel patents the socket/pinout so for true hardware compatibility there would need to be some sort of arrangement.

The instruction set is also owned by Intel.

Now AMD gets around this by having neither. Their chips (since the demise of Socket 7 are not pin compataible and they have thier own instruction set). How Cyrix/VIA does it??? Then of course there aren't really any others that are x86 class....

Thanks, mjc. Just curious, does IBM manufacture x86 CPUs??

Nope, they got out of it a few years ago, they were using Cyrix for a while, but now I think they use Intel (maybe some AMD) for their PCs....

Basically the x86 makers are Intel, AMD and Cyrix/VIA.

Motorola and several others make chips for the Mac.

Sun makes the SPARC line, and a few others make various CPUs for specialty machines (like servers) that run something other than a M$ OS (like Unix), or embedded/mobile devices.

Thanks again,