> That really sounds like a winning proposition for Apple, given that Intel's own 64-bit arches historically sucked.

Yeah but for various reasons any usable amd64 CPU needs backwards compatibility with x86 - which, if Apple doesn't want to go the Fat Binary emulation approach again, requires that an Apple-bought AMD must achieve a licensing deal with Intel to maintain said compatibility.

Then again, Apple these days doesn't give a ... about BC anymore anyway, so they might as well go down that track and use only amd64.