Former AMD executives accused of leaking Xbox 720 and PS4 tech secrets

AMD has filed a suit against four former employees who are currently being accused of taking confidential information about the Xbox 720 and PS4 to their new employer and rival company, Nvidia.

The suit, reported by ZDNet, claims the ex-employees took with them thousands of confidential documents, including sensitive information about the technologies being used in the next-gen consoles by Microsoft and Sony. As sources leaked last year, the PS4 is expected to use custom silicon based on AMD's A8-series APU and HD 7670 GPU. Meanwhile the Xbox 720 will supposedly combine an IBM PowerPC CPU and a custom version of AMD's 6670 GPU.

Front and center of the lawsuit is the former VP of AMD's Strategic Division, Robert Feldstein, who played a key role in designing graphics chips for early Xbox 360 consoles and the Wii. AMD claims that he and others transferred 100,000 files that contain "trade secret materials relating to developing technology."

AMD claims it has "forensically-recovered data" to show that external storage devices were used in the days prior Feldstein's departure. Furthermore, Feldstein and Richard Hagen, another AMD executive, convinced two other employees to join them at Nvidia which the company claims is in violation of agreements they had signed.

We have not yet heard Nvidia's response to the lawsuit.

[ZDNet via Ars Technica]