UPDATED: AMD engineer charged with Intel espionage

A former Intel designer who joined arch-rival AMD has been accused of stealing Intel trade secrets.

Charges brought by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) state that Massachusetts-based Biswahoman Pani copied confidential Intel computer-aided design (CAD) drawings and documentation. The charges were brought in August, but only became public now with the publication of the formal charge sheet.

The sheet said Pani admitted using his Intel laptop to access the files on the chipmaker's network out of curiosity during an FBI interview late in July, after it raided his home and found 19 CAD designs and more than 100 other Intel documents.

It also alleged that Pani wanted to impress his new employees, having joined AMD on 2 June 2008. This is despite the fact they also claim he stopped working for Intel a further nine days later, on 11 June 2008.

Intel initiated the investigation after discovering Pani had moved to AMD and reviewing files the engineer accessed prior to leaving.

But the FBI charges said AMD had no involvement in and had not condoned Pani's actions.

"AMD is cooperating fully in the FBI investigation into this matter. AMD has not been accused of wrongdoing, and the FBI has stated that there is no evidence that AMD had any involvement in or awareness of Mr Pani's alleged actions," the company said in a prepared statement.

"I can also confirm that Mr Pani is no longer employed at AMD," AMD spokesman Michael Silverman added.