Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments And Contingencies

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Commitments And Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments And Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies
Warranties and Indemnities
The Company generally warrants that its products sold to its customers will conform to the Company’s approved specifications and be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for one year. Subject to certain exceptions, the Company also offers a three-year limited warranty to end users for only those microprocessor and AMD A-Series APU products that are commonly referred to as “processors in a box” and has also offered extended limited warranties to certain customers of “tray” microprocessor products and/or workstation graphics products who have written agreements with the Company and target their computer systems at the commercial and/or embedded markets.
Changes in the Company’s potential liability for product warranty during the quarters and six months ended June 30, 2012 and July 2, 2011 are as follows:
 
 
 
Quarter Ended
 
Six Months Ended
 
 
June 30,
2012
 
July 2,
2011
 
June 30,
2012
 
July 2,
2011
 
 
(In millions)
Beginning balance
 
$
20

 
$
19

 
$
20

 
$
19

New warranties issued
 
16

 
8

 
25

 
17

Settlements
 
(16
)
 
(10
)
 
(24
)
 
(18
)
Changes in liability for pre-existing warranties, including expirations
 
(2
)
 
2

 
(3
)
 
1

Ending balance
 
$
18

 
$
19

 
$
18

 
$
19


In addition to product warranties, the Company, from time to time in its normal course of business, indemnifies other parties, with whom it enters into contractual relationships, including customers, lessors and parties to other transactions with the Company, with respect to certain matters. In these limited matters, the Company has agreed to hold certain third parties harmless against specific types of claims or losses, such as those arising from a breach of representations or covenants, third-party claims that the Company’s products when used for their intended purpose(s) and under specific conditions infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party, or other specified claims made against the indemnified party. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount of liability under these indemnification obligations due to the unique facts and circumstances that are likely to be involved in each particular claim and indemnification provision. Historically, payments made by the Company under these obligations have not been material.
Contingencies
The Company is a defendant or plaintiff in various actions that arose in the normal course of business. In the opinion of management, the aggregate liability, if any, with respect to these matters will not have a material effect on its financial condition, results of operations or cash flow.