China's infosec leads accuse Intel of NSA backdoor, cite chip security flaws

theregister.com

9 points·photochemsyn··7 comments

Interesting if they reveal some of their investigation' findings

8086 was launched in 1978[1], so the x86 architecture is quite old, spanning over 45 years. How long before enough patents expire so those who don't trust Intel or AMD can launch a competing compatible implementation?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086

2078 easily and then Intel might go for ten to twenty year patent extension periods multiple times.

> patent extension

Is that a thing? Patents are only valid for 15-20 years. I'm sure Intel couldn't care less if you made your own 8086 ...

I'm sure you're free to make an 8086 clone. Maybe even of an Athlon 64. It's just that nobody would buy it...

Even without the patent issue (I assume AVX etc. are still restricted) hardly anyone has the talent and resources to be build something even remotely competitive from scratch. Even if you do going with something from ARM and then building you own core when you're ready (like Qualcomm/Nuvia or Ampere) seems like a better idea..

Sounds like a scheme to drive up demand for domestic chips.

Seems a continuation of China blocks use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers (145 points, 7 months ago, 139 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39808664

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