This is a first...

This to me reads as a sign of fear on intel's part. intel hasnt feared anything in the past, the EU / Japan / South Korea antitrust complains didnt seem to phase them, AMD's civil litigation was an expected cost of doing business and so on.

In those scenarios the only at stake was some money, possibly some restrictions on marketing practices, and maybe a dent or 2 in their pride, nothing more. in their own view, their armor was thick enough it could with stand a few chinks here and there, battle scars that make for good war stories to tell their grandchildren.

Then came Andrew Cuomo and the state of New York, followed closely behind by the FTC, with wispers of the DOJ riding in behind them, all waving antitrust antitrust complaints, and all having the power to do some real damage to intel. looking at that battlefield, and the possible consequences of losing any or all of the upcoming US government cases, intel actually showed signs of fear and waved the white flag, hoping that settle the case with AMD and making an agreement about its future marketing practices will be enough to stave off the coming onslaught of US.gov cases.

probably a wise move on intel's part, with a heavily democrat controlled US government in place at the moment, intel faces the very real possibility of being broken up by the courts. they would have faced the same fate as Microsoft in its antitrust case, however this time its to early in the election cycle, there wouldn't be a change of office, no republican president to come in and save their ass, like Bush did for Microsoft...

Well this is certainly a blue ball moment...

Now we will never know if Intel was giving discounts to OEMs for not using AMD chips.

Unless of course Intel begins or continues the practice after this agreement...